The Danteum by Giuseppe Terragni was a work of architecture so admired by Darden that he sought to make his own work of architecture in dedication of a great American author. The only problem was... who? Today we know that person to be Herman Melville, and thus the Melvilla was in-formed by his magnum opus, Moby-Dick; just as the Danteum was in-formed by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. However, this is not the original author Darden had in mind when he first began conceiving of doing an American Danteum. No, he originally considered using Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, and the building would be called Clemens Court.
The Danteum, as it were, was so central of a structure to Darden that it in-forms Temple Forgetful and is included in the site plan. He would write a book review for Thomas Schumacher's book The Danteum in the periodical Sites (January 1986, p. 107-108). The fact he wanted to do an American equivalent is not surprising in the least, especially given his immense interest in literature and architecture inspired by literature. As Darden writes:
In 1938 amid the highly charged political climate of Fascist Italy, Mussolini commissioned the architect, Giuseppe Terragni, to design a building for the planned exposition of 1942 that would honor the greatest of Italian poets, Dante Alighieri and his monumental allegory, The Divine Comedy. The exposition was canceled at the beginning of World War II, and the Danteum, as it was called, was never built. However, through the architect's drawings, model, and texts, the Danteum stands as one of the most compelling architectural projects of this century.
In 1988, fifty years after the conception of the Danteum, I set about without a commission to design a theoretical architectural project which would honor Herman Melville and his great masterpiece, Moby-Dick. At the outset, I wished to accomplish two things. Firstly, I sought to design a building which would be the American equivalent in scope and stature to Terragni's project based on The Divine Comedy. This notion of equivalence was not grounded in an estimation of my work relative to Terragni's, but my belief that Moby-Dick is America's greatest novel. Secondly, I wished to demonstrate that a work of literature could not only be a source of inspiration for an architectural project, but that a novel could more directly in-form architecture; that is, a novel could be the veritable client for a building design. In this manner the project was to be a corresponding, parallel work to Moby-Dick defined in architectural terms, not a set of subservient illustrations. The result was a project entitled Melvilla. (Darden, "Melvilla: An Architect on Moby-Dick," Melville Society Extracts, Vol. 91, 1992, p. 1)
While, yes, he began work on Melvilla in 1988, he actually had been conceiving of an American Danteum since 1986. During this time Darden endeavored to present an exhibition called "2 x 4" which would display eight architectural projects, two projects by four architects. Another note in the file calls it "Architecture and Tragedy," but that is beside the point. The exhibition never occurred, though he exhibited Museum of Impostors and Clinic for Sleep Disorders in several showings in New York City in 1986, where he was residing at the time. In an initial proposition for 2 x 4, Darden indicates that he wishes to exhibit Night School and Clemens Court. The description for Clemens Court is as follows:
William Gass reminds us that "we should never forget that from the very beginning the word has been one of the important OBJECTS in human experience." We are born into language as into perception and a place. Such a reminder has architectural ramifications.
In 1938 the architect Giuseppe Terragni received a commission under the Fascist regime of Mussolini to design a building that would honor the greatest of Italian poets, Dante Alighieri. The Danteum, as it was called, was never built; however, through the architect's drawings and his text, the Danteum stands — like the DIVINE COMEDY — as a compelling, imaginative work.
To date, no similar work has been designed by an architect in the United States to honor the greatest American writer. Perhaps this is because our country is young, or because our citizens would not agree on who is the greatest writer, but if we can allow a leniency with these matters, we can imagine designing "An American Danteum" that would honor Samuel Langhorne Clemens, otherwise know as Mark Twain."
One will notice a lot of crossover of language between the Melvilla statement and that of Clemens Court. One important thing to note is that Darden views the Danteum as a standing monument. Sure, the physical structure was never built, but through the drawings, model, and texts about the Danteum, it is a real work of architecture that stands, not physically in reality, but in the reality of Architecture itself. This may be why Darden adds the Danteum into the site plan of Temple Forgetful; he believes it is real — it is real. He is not imagining a parallel dimension where the Danteum was constructed, but rather that it already is real.
One will note that in the text of Melvilla, Darden calls the Danteum an "allegory." He doesn't say this about the Danteum in the text of Clemens Court, indicating that Darden had not quite developed his belief, or at least had not yet begun to articulate his perception of his building designs as allegories. I believe this reinforces the perception that the Danteum is real, it stands, it exists. The allegory makes it real, because allegories are reality, or at least a reality. We use metaphors, we use allegories. This is part of our linguistic reality. Like the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: the larger the vocabular, the more augmented the reality of perceiving the world. However, I think George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's Metaphors We Live By better captures the concept: that our language, the way we speak is almost always a metaphor; we speak in metaphors almost constantly. By extension, metaphors become our reality; allegories are reality. Really diving into this probably deserves its own post, as I believe there is a great deal of influence from Peter Eisenman, and by extension, Noam Chomsky and other linguistic theories of semantics.
There is something Darden writes in a letter concerning the 2 x 4 exhibition that I think begins to capture what Darden was truly in-visioning: "Words can be very important in the architectonics of perception and the viewer's expecta-shuns."
However, Darden is much more certain in his declaration of Melville being the greatest American author, whereas Mark Twain feels like a placeholder. He is less certain as to whether or not Twain is the greatest. He is more nominating Twain for the title of "Greatest American Author" to the general public, rather than declaring it. He didn't even have a particular work of Twain's in mind to base his design upon, like the Danteum was based on the Divine Comedy, Dante's magnum opus. Did Twain even have a magnum opus? What is Twain's greatest novel? And if that is his greatest work, is it the greatest work of American literature? One can really see why Darden was hesitant to follow through on Clemens Court.
In a letter to his friend Ben Ledbetter, Darden writes the following:
Darden proceeds to make some commentary on this term and function of Ifadeum in a series of postscripts. He conceives that each architect will form there own program based on "what each of us has learned from designing our Night School." He notes that "deum" is not a real word but is similar to "diem" (day) and "deus" (god). Then notes that "eum" makes him think of institutions (e.g. museum) and "glorification" — "I think from childhood hymns that had the sound 'deum.'"
Basically, Darden didn't know who the Greatest American Author is, nor does he imagine there could be a consensus. It is one big IF. If it is Hemingway, then what about Plath? If it is Woolf, then what about Lovecraft? What if the greatest American author has not even been born yet? Like Nietzsche's Ubermensch, the one who has yet to come. What if the greatest American author is not of the United States, but rather Mexico, or Canada or any number of South American countries? What is meant by "American"?
Further writings on the 2 x 4 exhibition are letters to students at Carleton University, Ben Ledbetter, and a guy named Neil (not sure who he is yet). Darden tosses around ideas, concepts, working theories, &c. It seems the objective to design an American Danteum was something Darden really wanted to do, but in 1986 he just could not formulate the right direction. It would take him two years to finally create Melvilla. Obviously, Mark Twain just wasn't the right client for Darden, nor was any of his work a veritable magnum opus for either Twain or America.
The fact he was so adamant on doing an American Danteum is telling about Darden's ambitions, but also how incredibly influential the Danteum was on him. One might consider Darden's admiration of Faulkner and the creation of Oxygen House another kind of Danteum. In many ways, Oxygen House and Melvilla compete with each other as being a sort of Danteum, even if conceived differently.
This is not meant to provide any sort of answer to Darden's opinions on "the greatest American author," perceptions, allegories, figuration, &c, but rather to give a glimpse into Darden's process and thoughts. We tend to look at Condemned Building as something that sprang from nothing, ex nihilo, but this is because it is so finalized, and all the work behind the scenes are completely denied to us. As strong and compelling as Darden's process is, he denies us access to any of it via Condemned Building. Process denied.
A little moment like Clemens Court and the Ifadeum gives some insight into that process.
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