Adultery? The bottle of drugs is interesting (the Roman way of sending daggers or poisons to the condemned individual to encourage suicide). Is it Japanese? They're probably closer in spirit to the Romans than any other modern people.
He didn't draw a line in the sand, though. That's the only way to transcend this stuff, stop being a pasty-faced prude, etc. I mean, just the thought of the possibility of forgiveness is miraculous: it's the other side of morality.
It is Japanese (Kobo Abe, "Song of a Dead Girl") and it's never very clear what happened; this is actually the very beginning of the story, and the rest of it is narrated by the woman after she is dead. There are some hints that she was forced to resign from her job as a factory worker, and that may have been the cause of K.'s anger.
Your mention of the Roman encouragement of suicide is interesting; I'm reminded of a short story I read recently by Mishima - "Patriotism" - which the most beautiful / hideous / bizarre gore I've ever slogged through; a soldier after World War II returns home, makes love to his wife, and then commits ritual suicide with her aid, and she then follows suit. This is stretched out over twenty pages (the suicide part.) Though I don't know much about the Romans. Actually, on a slightly related note, I was planning my summer reading the other day and it's funny - Genji and the Iliad. Ha
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Have you seen these? What I would think of as gruesome would probably be called "precise" by Japanese convention. (Yeah, I'm still waiting on Genji; if I don't go to Greece, I'll definitely have time.)
About the quote, I wouldn't be surprised if Faulkner had translated it himself. I'll look for it in the library tomorrow, though.
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He didn't draw a line in the sand, though. That's the only way to transcend this stuff, stop being a pasty-faced prude, etc. I mean, just the thought of the possibility of forgiveness is miraculous: it's the other side of morality.
Maybe it's not adultery?
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Your mention of the Roman encouragement of suicide is interesting; I'm reminded of a short story I read recently by Mishima - "Patriotism" - which the most beautiful / hideous / bizarre gore I've ever slogged through; a soldier after World War II returns home, makes love to his wife, and then commits ritual suicide with her aid, and she then follows suit. This is stretched out over twenty pages (the suicide part.) Though I don't know much about the Romans. Actually, on a slightly related note, I was planning my summer reading the other day and it's funny - Genji and the Iliad. Ha ( ... )
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What I would think of as gruesome would probably be called "precise" by Japanese convention.
(Yeah, I'm still waiting on Genji; if I don't go to Greece, I'll definitely have time.)
About the quote, I wouldn't be surprised if Faulkner had translated it himself. I'll look for it in the library tomorrow, though.
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