While life, death and meaning are the major themes in Night Letters , religion per se also gets an eloquent airing. R. is an atheist who finds large European churches unabashedly unspiritual , attuned as they are to the tourist dollar. In Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, for example, although the brochure says that the visitor becomes part of a living church, in point of fact there s a notice at the door directing those who wish to worship or pray to take themselves elsewhere, if they wouldn t mind. If they insist on going in, there s an obligatory and precisely specified donation, payable at the glass booth beside the entrance. Heresy to me is sacred.
Heresy is the rogue genetic mutation that makes the species multiply.
Heresy is the very source of all the colours and shapes and pain and joy in the world. Those who would stamp it out are my enemies. Apart from the stimulation to think on the many weighty issues it addresses, Night Letters is a gem purely for the joy one can take in its language. Dessaix expresses himself plainly, readably, delightfully. Do yourself the favour.