The Spire That Stayed out in the Cold

The Spire by William Golding. Harcourt, Brace and World. $3.95.

Salisbury Cathedral’s spire soars 404 feet above the water-meadows of the River Avon. Allen’s Great Cathedrals tells us that, from a simple lantern, “with the daring of a great artist, some unknown architect shot upward from the delicate piers and slight foundations, the airiest and loftiest tower and spire in England.” William Golding taught for a long time in the shadow of this miracle, and his latest novel—an act of homage if ever there was one—seeks to bring to life the audacious sixteenth-century planner who might have been the “great artist”: Jocelin, Lord Dean of the Cathedral. Jocelin took an enormous risk in raising even the tower, let alone the spire. The rubble and brushwood foundation were barely adequate to float the existing ship of God: the piers at the Cathedral crossways were shoddy affairs. He caused centuries of anxiety by his calculated risk—or was it crazy resolution? For him, it was an act of worship commanded by a vision. He dismissed almost derisively the skepticism of the master builder. It was always feared that the spire might fall, and Christopher Wren was the last of those called in to make sure it wouldn’t. As it did not fall, Salisbury and the world were enriched, and Constable made certain we could not forget it.