Notre-Dame de Paris · Chapter
Book V explained
The narrator reflects on the impact of the printing press on architecture, arguing that the printed word will kill the architectural monument as the primary means of preserving human thought.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the impact of the printing press on architecture, arguing that the printed word will kill the architectural monument as the primary means of preserving human thought. The chapter contrasts the static, monolithic nature of architecture with the dynamic, proliferating nature of print, and discusses the historical shift from theocratic to democratic forms of expression.
Themes in this chapter
Architecture and Preservation
The chapter deeply explores the role of architecture as a preserver of human thought and history, and how the printing press threatens to supplant it as the dominant medium.
Religion and Hypocrisy
The chapter contrasts the dogmatic, theocratic nature of architectural monuments with the more questioning, democratic spirit of printed books, implicitly critiquing the rigid control of knowledge by religious institutions.
Characters to notice
- Dom Claude Frollo
Claude Frollo is mentioned as the archdeacon who, in a moment of melancholy, points to a printed book and then to the cathedral, uttering the prophetic words, 'This will kill that.'
Key passages
“This will kill that.”
The printed book will destroy the architectural monument as the primary vessel of human expression and memory.
Claude Frollo's cryptic remark encapsulates the central thesis of the chapter, predicting the decline of architecture's cultural dominance.
“The book of stone, so solid and so durable, was to give place to the book of paper, more solid and more durable still.”
The enduring stone monuments of architecture are being replaced by printed books, which are even more enduring and widespread in their influence.
This paraphrase captures the narrator's argument about the shift from architecture to print as the primary medium for preserving and disseminating ideas.