chapter xxv: the siderealists part ii: from bad to verse  

Gaspille Argent was devastated by the death of nearly the entire Siderealist movement in the War. Seeing much of the blame being laid at the feet of his friend Sac De Viande only compounded the pain of the grieving Parisian.	Sac De Viande's notions of "proudly vertical" shooting were harshly criticized
Not only had many of his friends been killed, but Siderealist art, the only kind he felt he understood, was no longer being produced, and worse yet, the Art community had reacted to the loss with a shrug, moving on to other movements.

 

Argent tried to follow the new trends, tried to embrace different styles, but they lacked the integrity. the clarity of purpose and above all the sad clowns which he loved so much in the Siderealist art he had collected.  In despair he turned his back on the Art world.

Art had lost all meaning for him.

 

With the War still raging, Argent felt as though life had lost all purpose, and yet he also felt the need to commemorate Siderealism and Sac De Viande in some way.
Joining the war effort as Cultural Chaplain, a position he created himself, he comforted the injured and dying by reading to them from De Viande's collected works.  Many soldiers reported that a visit from Argent made the prospect of death not only less frightening, but actually preferable.