Decline and fall of the West

In “Decline and fall of the West” we see an unusual and somewhat obscene architect in the form of Otto Friedrich Silenus. The professor as he likes to be called, dreams of a world that is empty of human life, in fact he says that “All ill comes from man…… Man is never beautiful, he is never happy except when he becomes the channel for the distribution of mechanical forces.' Machines are what he considers a superior race. This character is so ridiculous, as are all the characters in this novel, but at the same time he has some theories and ideologies that can fit into our world. His theory of machines seems to be completely absurd as I don’t know of any architect who wants to design a building which will never be lived in or used by people. Yet Professor Silenus’ general gloominess and hate for all things human, while extreme, does have some actuality. Have we not at one time or another wished for an easier project, one without clients, users etc. A project where the placement of “a staircase” or windows and doors dosen't meant returning to the drawing board (or computer screen for anyone under the age of 20).

It’s not until his final ramblings that we can see that his taught process come to a critical point when he speaks of life on the “Luna Park” wheel, a strange metaphor, but an understandable one. He sees himself near or “at the centre”. His disgust at humans would incline me to believe he would not even want to “join in the game”. He describes the position he is in as being “slower, it is moving and the easier it is to stay on…….. when we do get to the middle, it’s just as if we never started. It’s so odd”. Yet he feels pity for Paul who is “static” seeing him as a “quite different species spiritually”.

I wonder when he talks of the “scrambling and excitement and bumps and the effort to get to the middle” is he describing his time designing the King's Thursday? This was his first large project which he says “I hate and detest every bit of it. Nothing I have ever done has caused me so much disgust.” But he is near to the centre now, yet he hasn't changed much, despite deciding to marry Margot, at learning of her marriage to another he simply reply’s “Oh well, it doesn’t matter really” or does this sudden interest in human life and spirituality hint at a possible interest in his fellow man? Can this change help him to reach “a point completely at rest, if one could only find it”?