Letter From Barcelona

 The Life of Jesus is like a great horror film. It just keeps giving--and giving--and giving. I think this is why Gaudi gave special prominence to the Four Evangelists in the Sagrada Familia. He knew that the Evangelists had written a terrific screenplay.

Look at Mary in the Merode Altarpiece. She is just sitting there--trying to do her reading or stitching or something--and a terrifying angel gets in her face. And look at elderly Joseph (on the verge of learning that his virgin-buddy is knocked up). Everything is immediately creepy.

Next we have the Slaughter of Innocents; Herod, concerned about his claim to the throne, asks that all young boys in Bethlehem be corralled and murdered. Gaudi set this scene with one baby thrown up above a man's head; another baby is wriggling at the end of the man's foot.

Gaudi devoted one half of his structure's facade to the Passion. Here, it's human failure after failure after failure. Peter denies knowing Christ. Judas betrays-with-a-kiss. Roman soldiers roll dice to see who gets to keep Jesus's undies, etc. When my spouse saw the dice-rolling, he said, "That's very bad," but actually my sympathies go to the soldiers. It's hard to think about posterity. In any given moment, it's easy to tell yourself this: "A free tee shirt is a free tee shirt. Who knows if I might be shirtless and uncomfortable tomorrow?"

I was reminded of Stephen Schwartz's work--still his best work:

Shall crime bring crime forever?

Strength aiding--still--the strong?

Is it thy will, O Father, that men shall toil for wrong?

NO, say thy mountains.

NO, say thy skies.

Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise...

And songs be heard--instead of sighs.

God save the people!

Everyone and everyone's mother wants to see the Sagrada Familia, which has possibly *benefited* from Orwell's famous observation that it's a tacky misfire. But I'm finding that Barcelona is much nicer than it seems to be in the NYTimes. It's not overflowing with people. It's not--presently--too humid or hot. No one is shouting at me about AirBnB (which I'm not using). Till next time.