Perhaps it's impolite...

I was at a party last PM with the most charming people, my dears. One of the first people I met was a lovely recently-retired librarian who unwisely asked me what I was writing. I launched into the elevator pitch about this book, referrring to it as "a history of iconoclasm in essays." If 'twere possible to see these things physically, I believe that at that very moment I would have been startled to note a huge, red, stainless steel question mark pop out of her head. But she was obviously well brought up and polite and listened to me blather for a few. Then, finding she had something to say, she replied, "There's a new museum up near Worcester you may be interested in, then."

I was in heat.... "Really? Tell me about it."

"Yes. It's devoted to Russian icons."

The giant question mark popped from her head to mine. I waited for her to say that there was some sacred rubble around the place, but- nothing. That was it. She drited to the south.

It wasn't until I told D about the conversation that I got it. Icons. Iconoclasm. Get it? Sigh.

Perhaps I shouldn't laugh, but- is this what is in store in the future for my poor little book? It's up to me to give it shield and sabre. It's up to me to fine-tune the pitch. Perhaps, "It's a series of stories about statue smashing." Suggestions?

In the meantime, I have uncovered the man who (it appears to me) may be the ultimate villian in the Notre Dame massacre. You may have heard of him. His name is Jacques Louis David. He painted "The Death of Marat" and other brilliant pictures. It was he, I find, who said, "these worthy predecessors of Capet which, until this instant, have escaped the law given to you by royalty, should suffer in their Gothic effigies terrible trial and revolution for posterity. Citizens, think- the statues, mutilated by national justice, could today for the first time serve Liberty.” This is amy own translation so it may be ragged and a hair off perfect...