Nor did we. But we dogs stayed that way, hoping humans would eventually quit chattering and writing so we could all get back to basics.
The Boss reckons the world is moving in that direction, with handwriting disappearing (and good spelling and grammar along with it). “We’re returning to an oral and visual tradition, General — dogs might be proven right yet.”
This discussion came about because of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on the weekend, to which The Boss feels some attachment. He tells me the last time Notre Dame endured a crisis was during the French Revolution in the 1790s, when the revolutionaries took their sledge-hammers and chisels to the building, destroying much of the religious imagery and decoration.
It languished for six decades, until Victor Hugo’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, prompted a refurbishment. One of the observations Hugo made was that “From remotest antiquity … the human race has employed architecture as its chief means of writing.”
So I take that to mean that a fine building says something, in the same way a noble dog says something, without talking.
The Boss was at a newspaper conference in Paris nearly 20 years ago where the opening was hosted by the Monsignor at Notre Dame, followed by drinks in the gardens. The Monsignor spoke about what the cathedral said to the Parisians, most of them impoverished, when the soaring edifice was completed around 1260.
It spoke of hope, he said. A soaring, awe-inspiring, spiritual marvel that could take them away from their struggles and misery.
The Monsignor, with a sly grin and waving to the high cloisters, couldn’t resist a comparison between the majestic cathedral, some 950 years old, to newspapers, just 400 years old — and suggested Notre Dame would still be here when newspapers were a thing of the past.
The signs of the digital revolution were already there then and the Monsignor will eventually be proven right, The Boss says — but the Monsignor’s prediction looked suddenly hasty on that dreadful night five years ago when Notre Dame went up in flames.
The modern version of Victor Hugo is Bernard Arnault, who led the response with a huge donation, enabling its remarkable rebuild. Bernard, who steadily amassed the largest luxury brands conglomerate in the world, LVMH, was immediately criticised, as were many other wealthy donors, for favouring cultural heritage over pressing humanitarian needs such as poverty alleviation or disaster relief.
As a non-speaking hound permanently seeking food relief myself, I can see both sides. But The Boss said it reminded him of the local taxi drivers complaining about the money being spent on SAM as our stunning art museum went up, saying it should be spent on roads and council services, the demand for which is endless.
And potholes being fixed, however necessary, doesn’t say anything inspiring, even for a dog. The Boss can’t wait to get back some day and see Notre Dame speaking more clearly than ever. Woof!
