A little Buzz in the library
Norman Mailer thought that any astronaut brave enough to bring back a chunk of the Moon as a souvenir would open themselves up to howling, mysterious events emanating from whichever shoe closet the chunk was consigned to. The Moon is undeniably powerful and cryptic.
Robert Graves regarded the first lunar landing as a ‘profanation of the Moon’, and described the whole business as ‘the dirtiest most depressing act since Alexander cut the Sacred Jovian Knot to assert that the sword was mightier than the soul.’
I think Mailer may be more right than Graves. Yes, the lunar landings explained some of the Moon’s secrets, but perhaps uncovered more. It seems to me we understand very little, for example, of its effect on emotions. Buzz Aldrin’s impatient soul, his flashing eyes and floating hair could, I suggest, only be explained by having spent time on the surface of the Moon.
I have a little statute of Buzz on my bookshelf – a small salute to a remarkable physical and metaphysical journey.