l'rhe scarlet iir Black, Feb, 2, 1979~page 8

ARH: a gothic bestiary

by Debbie Weincr

How important are gargoyles in
your lite?

On a scale of one to ten, most
people would probably rank them
somewhere around one, slightly
below “Leave it to Beaver” and
maybe a little higher than Tibetan
dietary practices,

Even the library doesn’t think
too much of gargoyles The
numerous books on Gothic ar-
chitecture invariably neglect to
probe the mystery of those mon~
strous, demonic creatures which
adorn the magnificent Gothic
cathedrals of Europe. So why
should we Concern ourselves with
the little beasts?

Well, there is every reason to

think that gargoyles are making a
Qualitative difference in our lives.
The hideous fiends inhabit one of
the most-used buildings on the
Grinnell campus, ARI-l. They
undoubtedly exert some spiritual
influence, whether for good or evil,
over the humans with which they
share the building.
. This article attempts to educate
and, perhaps, to warm the public
about the littlesknown, little-
researched and seemingly har-
mless gargoyles. Three basic
questions need to be asked: what
does the gargoyle mean, what are
its powers, and how did it find its
way from the cathedrals of 13th
century medieval Europe to the
prairies of the 20th century
enlightened Iowa?

The few scholars who have
bothered to concern themselves
with the ﬁrst question express

' uncertainty about the meaning oi
gargoyles. Although experts agree
on the creature's function, which
was to serve as a water spout tor
U12 draining of rainwater, most are
puzzled by the grotesque shape
these spouts assumed As Emile
Male, one of the leading Gothic art
historians,rcomment, “All at
tempts at explanation must be
foredoomed to failure."

Although the scholars are
stumped, they certainly wax
eloquent when describing the in-
trigumg little demons. Male calls
the gargoyle: “nameless creatures

_ 3 (Photo by Karl Dukstein.) '

which like Colonies of monstrous
birds have their home overhead
among the buttresses and towers"
of Gothic churches.

He asks, “What can be the
meaning of the longrnecked
gargoyles which howl in their
heights, and which if not held by
their massive stone Wings would
swoop down, making in their tlight
an appalling outline against the
sky? No age or race has conceived
more terrible species, partly
caterpillar, partly oat, yet with a
strange and horrible appearance of
reality." He concludes, a1)»
propriately enough, that they
“Came from the depths of the
peoples' consciousness,"

Historian Allan Temko adds that

 

pity hcr. . .despite her gargoyle
tace."0r rather, because oi.

But mostly, gargoyles are nasty.
They even named a disease atter
it: gargoylism, It is “A syndrome
characterized by mental
deficiency and skeletal defor~
mities, including an abnormally
large head, short limbs, and
protruding abdomen , . . The term
“gargoylisrn' has been applied to
this syndrome because the gross
disliguration resembles the
gargoyles of Gothic architecture."
Enough, already~we get the
picture

Piecing together various clues, a
dark and terrible reason for the
placing of gargoyles on the neo
Gothic edifice of ARH begins to

The Gargoyle often malees his perch

On a cathedral or a church

Where, mid ecclesiastic style

He smiles an early Gothic smile

”the gargoyles belonged to the
lurthermost ranges of the human
soul.”

Literary references to gargoyles
also illuminate the dark underside
of the human soul. Thomas More
relers to “The bare ugly gargoyle
faces of abhominable heresies,”
Fiitcenth century writer John
Lydgate. describes a disturbing
scene: “And every house keuered
was with lede, and many gargoyl,
and many hidious hede,”

or course, there are exceptions
to every rule. One writer managed
to tie in gargoyles with economics:
“Whatis it to se dogges and cattes,
Gargell heddes and Cardinal]
hattes, Paynted on walles with
moche cost," Another, HF.
Lester, chose to treat the fiends in
a rather flippant tashion in Under
Two Fig Trees: “I ielt disposed to

—0liver H erford

(Photo by Karl Duktein.)

emerge.

Plain and simple, the gargoyle was
intended to scare the hell nut of its
beholders. Its contorted, agonized
tigure expressed “the horrors ol
damnation” that awaited the
person who neglected to worship
inside the edifice upon which it
perched. To the ignorant public it
was far from an inanimate ob
ject Did H. Rawson (brother of the
Rawson Hall Rawson) have this
instructive purpose in mind? He
designed ARI-i.

President Main‘s speech at the
dedication of the building in 1916
exposes the college’s dark intent.
“This building," he said, “is an
expression, in a rather signiﬁcant
sense, of the new spirit in Grinv
nell.” SPIRIT? Spirit, did he Say?
Ahall ‘

Harold Van Born, in his poem
about the new alumni hall, tries to
reassure the public that ARH is
just your everyday, normal

building. His attempt is'a Ieeble'

, dtsérgoyle

one:

“‘Tis a building, just a building,

Just a pile of brick and stone,

it will serve its ﬂeeting purpose,

Turn to dust, iorgot, unknown,”

But Van Dorn gives himself
away in the third stanza, when he
talks about ARH’s “spirit~Tll_at is
lasting, that alone.” The Seemingly
ornamental and foolishly out—0f-
place tigures tinally revealtheir
true tunction: to psychologically
coerce students into attending
class.

But perhaps Saint Bernard’s
interpretation should be heeded.
He considered the demons “a
ridiculous monstrosity,” vestiges
of paganism still prevalent in the
popular imagination. They
distracted irom the true purpose oi
the church, from the Con-
templation of the Divine. Instead of
concentrating on the events taking
place inside the building, the public
amused itself by lounging around
the outside at the building looking

Perhaps architect Rawson,
acting on a hint from his brother, a
former Grinnell student, at
tempted to offer some relief to the
19m Grinnell grind still familiar to
the students of 1979. If so, the
gargoyles deserve all the
recognition they can get

(Ed. Note: Thanks to william Woll
tor his kind help rescrclling the
subject ot gargoyles.)

 

