This is the time of night when I read something else and find a parallel.
"I walk the streets of this city I'm learning to hate, the city that's given up, like the whole world seems to have."
-Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns (London, 1986), Book One, p. 5.
Bruce Wayne refers to a fictional city, based on New York, that is not only decayed but also increasingly dangerous. Poul Anderson's Carl Farness refers to New York becoming uninhabitable and also, perhaps at an earlier date, to its dirt, disorder, danger and decay. For both quotations, see "Knowing The Future III," here.
Wayne's lament for a city reminded me of Farness'.
See also "Darkness And A City," here.
Once again, good night.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Under former Mayors Giuliani and Bloomsberg of NYC, much of this decay and disorder was arrested, even reversed, simply by enforcing common sense methods of enforcing law and order.
But, yes, bad ideas and bad policies led to entire sections of NYC, like the Bronx, being abandoned and looking like a bombed out war zone. And that kind of decay is even worse in Detroit.
A very good, and still timely examination of the problems of NYC and proposed solutions to them is William F. Buckley's THE UNMAKING OF A MAYOR, his account of his campaign for the mayoralty in 1964.
Sean
I checked, and in strict fairness I should say that in recent years large parts of the Bronx has been fixed up and made habitable again.
Sean
Sean,
I like that image with the low roofs of the Bronx in the foreground, the taller buildings of other boroughs in the background and, beyond them, clouds and sky.
Paul.
Sean,
That Buckley is an interesting guy.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I took another look and I saw what you meant: low immediate background, taller buildings farther off, contrasted by sky and cloud. In fact I've wondered if the illustration you chose was a painting, not a photograph.
The late William F. Buckley WAS very interesting. He was a MAJOR factor in reviving a conservative movement which had been demoralized and defeated for many years. I've been a subscriber to the magazine Buckley founded, NATIONAL REVIEW, for many years. And I've read many of his books, both fictional and non-fiction.
Sean
These days the Bronx is full of gentrifying hipsters -- quite notorious for them, in fact.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
At least that's better than the Bronx looking like a WW II bombed out city!
Sean
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