introduction to ruin

[the ruins of toronto.]

''the approach to ruins in this highly selective book will be seen to be that of a pleasurist. it is not architectural or archaeological, nor in any way expert, its aim however incoherently kept in view and inadequately achieved, is to explore the various kinds of pleasure given to various peoples at various epochs by the spectacle of ruined buildings. ...

''when did it consciously begin, this delight in decayed or wrecked buildings? very early, it seems. since down the ages men have meditated before ruins, rhapsodized before them, mourned pleasurably over their ruination, ...

''more intellectual than any of these emotions are those two learned, noble and inquisitive pleasures, archaeology and antiquarianism, which have inspired so much eager research, such stalwart, patient and prolonged investigation, such ingenious and erroneous deductions and reconstructions, and have been rewarded by those exquisite thrills of triumph and discovery which must be as exciting as finding a new land. these are no doubt the highest and purest of ruin pleasures, but are reserved for the few. ...

''whatever its complex elements, the pleasure felt by most of us in good ruins is great. ... this broken beauty is all we have of that ancient magnificence, we cherish it like the extant fragment of some lost and noble poem. ...

''this book is a random excursion into the fantastic world that the idioti [including time, their chief] have made and left, a shattered heritage, for us to deplore and to admire ... one must select for contemplation some phase in a ruins devious career, it matters little which, and consider the human reaction to this; or merely enjoy one's own. ... for out of this extremely ruinous world [in which there are, above and under the earth, far more ruined than unruined buildings], i have only had space to select a few ruinous objects, a ruin here and a ruin there, to illustrate the human attitude towards them, and the odds are against any one's finding here more than a few of their own favorite ruins. ...

''still, it may be held that this book, whatever it lacks, does not suffer from brevity, so perhaps it is for the best.''

rose macaulay, pleasure of ruins.