Today, I went to the Botanical Garden. They will be the next post. In the Gardens we found a Victorian house that belonged to Henry Shaw, who owned the land prior to the existence of the Garden. I have to admit that I did not pay much attention to the history, or exactly what he did for Missouri/the Botanical Garden, but I enjoyed talking to the docent upstairs, who showed us the bedrooms.
She pointed out ornate candlesticks, decorated boxes, and elaborate wallpaper, explaining that Victorians loved stuff. I immediately was transported back to my Henry James seminar, and a tiny little book called, The Spoils of Poynton. The other James we read deal with people's relationships with self or others; this novel centered around people's relationship to their things, specifically, the "spoils" that resided at the estate of Poynton. As the novel progresses, you discover that several of the characters care more about the material objects in the novel then the other characters who are their sons, husbands, and friends.
The parallel startled me as we stared at the rooms and were shown figurines, wax seal sets, books, opera clothing, mini-green houses, beds, clocks, and other object that Shaw owned and displayed to show his wealth.
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