"H-appiness, Miss Cochrane, is very interesting from an h-istorical point of view. ... Categories of error are as multi-hued as Joseph's coat, but the greatest and grossest of these tend to lodge under the following naïveté: that the past is really just the present in fancy dress. Strip away those bustles and crinolines, doublet and hose, those rather haute couture togas, and what do you discover? People remarkably like us, whose sweet essential hearts beat just like Mama's. ... To put it crudely, they want to be us. All piffle and garbage, of course." (195)
Barnes, Julian. England, England. London: Jonathan Cape, 1998.
Progress and its discontents, clothed in costume history metaphor.
Barnes, Julian. England, England. London: Jonathan Cape, 1998.
Progress and its discontents, clothed in costume history metaphor.