the line of beauty

i had a conversation with someone (p?) recently about book titles - and how much we hate it when the title turns out to be completely unrelated to the text. it's just some clever turn-of-the-phrase meant to grab your attention and get you to buy the book.

i'd been having a little doubt about the book i'm reading right now -
the line of beauty by alan hollinghurst. but finally, 176 pages in, i came to it.

the line of beauty, it turns out, is this:


the ogee curve.

the ogee curve was pure expression, decorative not structural; a structure could be made from it, but it supported nothing more than a boss or a cross that topped an onion dome. the double curve was hogarth's "line of beauty," the snakelike flicker of an instinct, of two compulsions held in one unfolding movement.

ok, that was worth it.