[lit-ideas] Re: Sexy Address
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 18:27:14 -0500
Eric Yost wrote:
> Problem with this place is that there are so many
> famous names and historical details, most are invisible except to the most
> determined history maven.
True of most European cities, too, I would suppose, though I've only visited
a summer's worth, and some only on Tuesday.
> Alternately, Auden said something about the place
> destroying its architecture before one had a chance to care for it.
It's said of Memphis, by those who say things about Memphis, that Memphis
has torn down more history than most cities have had. That's certainly true
of black history which was generally razed during the urban renewal of the
1970's. Beale Street, which is the central tourist attraction second only
to Graceland, is a kind of Disneylandized version of THE Beale Street. We
now have troped whites in blackface, etc. But it's also true of many of the
old landmark train stations and hotels and Victorian mansions that would
have been big TOURI$T ATTRACTION$ had the city had the sense to preserve
them. But 7/11's made more cents back then. As did parking lots. So, so
long, Stax! Today we have pockets of preservation, but some of the most
historical and interesting buildings are long gone. Welcome to Just About
Any American City.
> Just as well. No
> sense being too intimidated by the past. West End Avenue indeed.
This is a question that has always fascinated me. When does one say enough!
basta! zut! (Joyce -- a grudging nod to Leduc). "Leave the dead to bury the
dead."
I take this Christian injunction to mean: "that was then, this is now". But
99 percent of NOW is the dead. We are our history modified by philosophical
ruminations on technological change. If this be false and upon me proved,
well then, I was wrong. How much history can a culture bear? I don't know.
More than Memphis has tried, I'm sure of that.
Mike Geary
Memphis Historian (less facts).
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