A Fine Piece of Descriptive Writing

[William Penrose]

I saw this in the current New Yorker, and I had to share it. It is in
an article Larissa MacFarquhar (sic) about Stanley Fish, who practically
invented extreme academic political correctness. Fish recently moved to
University of Illinois-Chicago.

MacFarquhar describes the UIC campus thus:

"...its buildings--stalwart brutist grunts, heaved into fearsome
shapes, out of concrete so aggressively unrefined as to be almost
titillating--retain their original mood. The fortresslike administration
building, twenty-eight stories high, dominates the campus from the
center of a bleak plaza that is scoured by tornado-like winds from
several directions."

Those that have seen the UIC campus would appreciate the imagery even
more. Wish I could write like that...

Bill Penrose (once more stretching the limits of fair use)
(The campus where I work is much nicer, except for the gunshots.)

--
Posted from email.iit.edu [216.47.150.94]
via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

[Tetractys]

William Penrose wrote:

> MacFarquhar describes the UIC campus thus:
>
> "...its buildings--stalwart brutist grunts, heaved into fearsome
> shapes, out of concrete so aggressively unrefined as to be almost
> titillating--retain their original mood. The fortresslike administration
> building, twenty-eight stories high, dominates the campus from the
> center of a bleak plaza that is scoured by tornado-like winds from
> several directions."
>
> Those that have seen the UIC campus would appreciate the
> imagery even more. Wish I could write like that...

Not only seen, but attended -- early on in the 60s, when it
was UICC, and still referred to as "Navy Pier College," and
also later through the years for seminars and grad courses.

There are reasons Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed
the school the way they did -- limited space, harsh environment,
budget, population density -- but what they came up with
has been subjected to far more descriptive and accurate
writing than MacFarquhar's. The Admnin Building, for
example, is a masterpiece. It not only dominates the
campus, but it does so intentionally and with innovative
construction techniques evident to even a casual observer
who knows the least bit about architecture. And it doesn't
look at all like a fortress.