Erich Kastner in Olherge Wein- berge (Frankfurt, I960, p. 95) comments on the force of vertical meanings:

The climbing of a mountain reflects

redemption. That is due to the force of

the word 'above,' and the power of

the word 'up.' Even those who have

long ceased to believe in Heaven

and Hell, cannot exchange the words

'above' and 'below.'

An idea Escher beautifully subverts in House of Stairs ; disenchanting his audience of the gravity of the world, while at the same time enchanting them with the peculiar gravity of the self.