The Cracked Bell. America and the Afflictions of Liberty

The Cracked Bell

America and the Afflictions of Liberty
by Tristram Riley-Smith

In an engrossing, eminently readable book, Tristram Riley-Smith examines all the contradictions and complexities inherent in the concept of 'liberty' and describes the ways in which America’s notion of itself as the ‘Land of the Free’ has become mythologised to such an extent that it has become 'inflated and unstable.' His background as a social anthropologist is reflected in his method of arguing from practical examples, which not only enlivens the text but provides persuasive evidence for the points he makes. He pin-points the many hypocrisies and contradictions in modern American, and no aspects of social or political attitudes and customs are left unexamined.

Riley-Smith’s book ends on an optimistic note. His final opinion is that all is not lost, that there are ‘sources of illumination’ whereby the ‘cracked bell’ can be re-cast. But I had a problem understanding how these sources of illumination can be translated into actual policies.

He says that, as an anthropologist, he is ‘sceptical about the ability of one individual to change culture.’

Yes, I’d agree there. But then, while I was reading, something from Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was hovering at the back of my mind:

 “Programs of a political nature are important end products of social quality that can be effective only if the underlying structure of social values is right. The social values are right only if the individual values are right. The place to improve the world is first in one's heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there. ”

This is the dilemma: if one accepts Pirsig’s thesis, cultural change has got to begin with individuals but that takes us into the realms of education – and imagination. It’s in those areas that it seems so difficult to effect meaningful changes that would lead to social and cultural change on anything like the grand scale which our current malaise demands.  I don’t have much idea of how well, or not, the American public educational system educates the majority of pupils to be critical, imaginative and informed thinkers. But I do know that the UK system as exemplified in the majority of our state-run schools is, largely, a failure in that respect. Two articles in the current issue of the London Review of Books have direct bearing on this point. They set out clearly the decline of our universities from centres of learning for its own sake into factories designed to turn out people skilled and knowledgeable only in specific areas, those areas solely validated by their practical, monetary value. This educational system is not designed to produce the sort of people likely to effect radical change in social culture.

Riley-Smith clearly sees Barack Obama as a man with the understanding and vision to help to re-cast the Cracked Bell. David Hackett Fischer, in his book, Champlain’s Dream, about the life of Samuel de Champlain, French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler, founder of New France and Quebec City, describes the qualities which made Champlain a great leader. On his death in 1635, although his achievements were celebrated, he was mostly remembered for the manner in which he treated others and that he served purposes that were larger than himself. Champlain was a man of his time whose thinking was far removed from ours today; as Fischer says: ‘He lacked the sense of individualism and individual autonomy which is so strong in North American culture to day.’ Fischer concludes the chapter in which he describes Champlain’s final days, and explains why he was honored as a great leader, as follows:

There was nothing of equality, democracy or republicanism in Champlain’s thinking. Champlain was raised in a European world where everyone had a rank and station. Like most of his European contemporaries, he was a confirmed monarchist. More than that, he firmly believed hierarchy and hegemony were fundamental to order, which he valued in an era of violence and deep disorder.

Champlain’s ideals were distant from ours in many ways, but some of our most cherished values have grown from his. We share his belief in principled action, even if our principles are not the same. Most of us are raised to his ideal of responsibility and leadership in a large cause. We have inherited his idea of humanity even as we have transformed it in many ways. And we are dreamers too, nearly all of us.

 Obama is certainly a man or principle and his writings show that he has the imagination to dream of a better way forward. But what must he do to translate principles and dreams into the policies which could begin the re-casting of the Cracked Bell?

Robert PIRSIG Zen and and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values William Morrow and Co 1984

David Hackett Fischer Champlain’s Dream Random House 2008

http://www.thecrackedbell.com/

An American Quilt in Guernsey

     It may be that only dyed-in-the-wool quilt anoraks will not be surprised when I tell you that last week I made a visit to the Channel Island of Guernsey, a not inconsiderable distance from Cumbria, just to see a quilt. Add to that the fact that I’m notoriously averse from leaving home and you’ll appreciate that there must have been a very special reason indeed for me to make the trip.

    That’s how special The Ogier Wedding Quilt, which occasioned my visit, is. The quilt, dated 1842, is now in the collections of The Guernsey Museums and Galleries, and I was privileged to have it taken out of storage so that I could examine it. The accompanying ‘flat shot’ will give some idea of the over-all effect. Some more detailed shots show the outstanding needlework skills which created it. But this quilt is just one of many outstandingly beautiful quilts which were made in Ohio County in the early to mid C19th, some of which are documented in Ricky Clark’s book: Quilted Gardens, Floral Quilts of the Nineteenth Century. (Published in 1994 by Rutledge Hill Press) The style combines pieced blocks and trapunto, in this case alternate blocks and borders being trapunto. Infill is very finely worked stippling.

    What is extraordinary about the Ogier Wedding Quilt is that, although it was made in Ohio, it is now in Guernsey. The objects of my enquiries are, precisely, to establish for whom was it made and how and when  it arrived in Guernsey? I began this research in 1997 when a friend of a friend, hearing that I was interested in old quilts, told me about it. The reason it has taken me so long to get round to pursuing my research begins with the fact that between 2002 and 2006 I was working on books continuously, then on other research projects, then gardening etc. etc. Poor excuses, I know. When I know more, I’ll share it.

(Photographs courtesy of Guernsey Museums and Galleries and Robin Le Feuvre.)

The Greystoke Coverlet - a curious textile survival

Recently an interesting-looking coverlet came up for auction at Penrith in Cumbria. The expected price range was given as between £200 and £450. Photographs in the catalogue showed it to be closely covered

in appliqué figures and a great deal of embroidered lettering. The most striking feature was a folded-down panel on which was commemorated Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Vittoria (sic. But it should be 'Vitoria!), 1813. (These panels, often commemorating significant events, were manufactured specifically for use in quilts and other textiles and were widely available. An identical panel is illustrated in two of Averil Colby’s books, Patchwork and Patchwork Quilts, in colour in the latter.) Under the panel, which had been left loose so that it could be lifted, the applique and embroidery are much brighter and in better condition than the rest of the coverlet. It shows a strange scene in which angel’s heads with wings appear above figures showing two couples, apparently flying, as they have wings attached. The men are in what may be military uniforms. On the left is a woman carrying what could be a single rose or a small bouquet followed by a row of three women with arms raised as if towards the flying couples.

Elsewhere on the coverlet other figures have embroidered captions, one of which reads Mary Queen of Scotland, although it was difficult to relate the accompanying illustration to any historical episodes concerning her. This may well be because the fabric in the figures is in many cases worn away almost completely so it’s impossible to decipher what was there originally.

At the bottom of the textile, some female figures have words embroidered under them, for example, ‘Patient woman’ and ‘Hypocrite!’ The embroidered lettering has in places also almost vanished, although it might be possible to read the words using a magnifying glass. The over-all impression somewhat suggests a page of cartoons,with quotes and comments. The embroidered lettering and the appliqué look quite crude and as if done in haste.

Altogether, this is a most intriguing and puzzling textile survival. I learned that it had come from Bushy House in Greystoke, the contents of which were being sold after the death of Adele le Bourgeois Aspel, the widow of a member of the Howard family. The Howards are a long-established Greystoke family whose seat is Greystoke Castle. It seems that many of the items to be auctioned had been found in barns and outbuildings and it could well be that the coverlet had suffered the same fate. Certainly, it is very dirty and clearly hadn’t been stored with a view to its preservation.

I went to view the textile the day before the auction and found it suitably protected by barriers and notices warning of its fragile condition. The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isle would have considered bidding for it but for the fact that the local Museum and Art Gallery, Tullie House in Carlisle, was also interested in it. In such situations, a protocol is observed between museums which means that the local museum has precedence and other museums won’t bid against them. Also, the coverlet was in need of extensive conservation work which would have been very expensive.

Of course, everyone concerned was hoping that Tullie House would win the bidding – they had set a maximum bid higher than the amount the Guild would have gone to. In that case, we would at least have known where it was, that it was being conserved and stored appropriately and, in future, the Guild might even have been able to borrow it.

But I’m sorry to have to report the dénouement to this story: the coverlet went to a private bidder for the stunning sum of £3,500! We shall probably never see it again.

Hot Chocolate!

Alice got cold and wet when out walking the dogs! Photo taken last Spring when she was staying here.

Lewis Mumford

Lewis Mumford

'Internationally renowned for his writing on cities, architecture, technology, literature, and modern life, Lewis Mumford was called by Malcolm Cowley "the last of the great humanists." His conributions to literary criticism, archtectural criticism, American studies, the history of cities, civilisation and technology, as well as to regional planning, environmentalism, and public life in America, mark him as oneof the most original voices of the twentieth century.' (Eugene Halton)

Sketches from Life The Autobiography of Lewis Mumford: The Early Years

This was another book just sitting quietly and unnoticed on my book-shelves. As soon as I picked it up I began remembering the books by Lewis Mumford (1895-1990) which I'd read in the 60s: Technics and Civilisation (1934) and The Culture of Cities (1938). He was, in his time, one of the most influential architects, designers and thinkers about ways in which people could live in cities and how urban planning could influence societies. In the dear, dead 60s, Mumford was embraced as one of the gurus of many far left Utopian thinkers, but his ideas and writings far exceeded what most of those sincere but often confused dreamers ever understood.

I don't think, on reflection, that I made much of those books at the time, but re-visiting Mumford now I'm struck by the fact that many of his ideas were so prescient but yet seem, now, to have sunk without trace.

From Values for Survival. 1964:

“If we are to create balanced human beings, capable of entering into world-wide co-operation with all other men of good will--and that is the supreme task of our generation, and the foundation of all its other potential achievements--we must give as much weight to the arousal of the emotions and to the expression of moral and esthetic values as we now give to science, to invention, to practical organization. One without the other is impotent. And values do not come ready-made: they are achieved by a resolute attempt to square the facts of one's own experience with the historic patterns formed in the past by those who devoted their whole lives to achieving and expressing values. If we are to express the love in our own hearts, we must also understand what love meant to Socrates and Saint Francis, to Dante and Shakespeare, to Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, to the explorer Shackleton and to the intrepid physicians who deliberately exposed themselves to yellow fever. These historic manifestations of love are not recorded in the day's newspaper or the current radio program: they are hidden to people who possess only fashionable minds. Virtue is not a chemical product, as Taine once described it: it is a historic product, like language and literature; and this means that if we cease to care about it, cease to cultivate it, cease to transmit its funded values, a large part of it will become meaningless, like a dead language to which we have lost the key. That, I submit, is what has happened in our own lifetime.”

Loudon Wainwright III Be Careful, There's a Baby in the House

This specially for B and for R.

The Spirit of Geometry

Burkhardt: '....the two poles of all artistic expression in Islam: the sense of rhythm and the spirit of geometry. ...'

This wall-quilt is my way of expressing this in the medium in which I most often work. As for how it is created, let's just say that it's not a technique for the faint-hearted!