Reflection: Architectural Lives

In A Fortunate Man, a vivid and moving account of a medical general practitioner working in a rural part of England in the 1960s, John Berger describes the lived realities of a vocational ideal. Despite numerous routine difficulties, Sassell, the focus of the account, “is nevertheless a fortunate man doing what he wants. Or more accurately what he wishes to pursue. Sometimes the pursuit involves strain and disappointment, but in itself it is his unique source of satisfaction. Like an artist or like anybody else who believes that his work justifies his life, Sassell … is a fortunate man.”...