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Marian Kechlibar's avatar

Dystopian sci-fi from behind the Iron Curtain is one of a kind. The authors had to be creative in order not to run afoul of the censors, and that results in works with layers of meanings.

I can recommend Janusz Zajdel, too.

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Joel's avatar

That second last paragraph reads like a summary of Spengler's ideas about the development of culture towards their final flowering in a civilisation, which exhausts the culture that it springs from.

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Test's avatar

Is the question about Notre Dame supposed to be rhetorical? Because we literally did just rebuild Notre Dame….

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Thomas Casey's avatar

While the damage was severe, it was far from a total loss. Although the restoration work turned out better than I had anticipated, I doubt France could build something like ND from scratch. And it's not just a matter of materials or craftsmanship either. The spirit of the thing is gone.

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Julia D.'s avatar

Well, Spain is building Sagrada Familia from scratch, 1882-2026. And the US built the Washington National Cathedral 1906-1988, a more derivative but still beautiful work.

Although, given how fast our cultures are changing, can we really take credit for something begun over 100 years ago? Maybe not. I don't know if there are many interesting cathedrals being started these days. There are other beautiful buildings though.

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Daniel M. Bensen's avatar

A Strugatsky book! Отлични сте!

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Eugine Nier's avatar

Thinking about it, this sort of seems like a Mid-Century Communist version of The Backrooms.

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