[UA] Cannibal

[Tim Toner]

----- Original Message -----
From: Nick Wedig <mrteapot at disinfo.net>
To: <ua at lists.uchicago.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 5:53 AM
Subject: Re: Re: [UA] Cannibal


> >>> Rather than mythological "ogres" and "ghouls," I'd think the more
> >>realistic conflict would be between those who cannibalize for spiritual
> >>reasons (some old Paupan tribes, some Amazon tribes, Jeffrey Dahmer) and
> >>those who cannibalize out of necessity (the Donner party, that soccer
team
> >>whose plane crashed).
> >>
> >>Oddly enough, this is (roughly) the plot of the screenplay I'm working
on. I
> >>figure the time is right for serious cannibal noir.
> >
> >Heh.  One UA screenplay idea I had was called "Saturnalia" and was
centered
> >around the "Ritual of Saturn" -- an ugly ritual that gives a man power by
> >destroying (and ritually consuming) his offspring.  I was inspired to it
by
> >the fact that Abraham Lincoln and HPL have no living descendants.  (I'm
> >sure there are plenty more historical examples, but I just don't know
> >them.)
>
> IIRC, Isaac Newton never married and might have died a virgin (the
virginity of dea guys is hard to
> validate, however) but I'm too lazy to back that up.

For some reason beyond comprehension, I tossed my copy of The Book of Lists
a few years ago.  One of these lists went into 10 (or so) famous men who
probably died a virgin (or nearly so).  Newton was mentioned, as was Hitler.
They backed up their claims with some armchair psychoanalysis, noting
Hitler's extreme hang-ups about sex (the pre-cursor of the CIA, the OSS,
considered dropping pornographic leaflets on Hitler's Bunker to make him
wig-out).

Then again, if not for Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, JFK might be on this
list.

I remember going to a mass when I was 10, and listening to the homily
delivered by a fellow about to become ordained.  He revealed at that time an
excruciatingly awful family history, consisting primarily of being in the
wrong place at the wrong time throughout European History (sort of an
anti-Gump).  Two sons finally made it to America, the only surviviors of an
extended family that exceeded fifty.  They had this ncredibly beautiful last
name that escapes me now, a name that they proudly used because it created
an unbroken chain throughout all that suffering.  Anyways, the two brothers
build up a business, and then one dies without ever marrying, and the
married one has something like seven daughters and one son.  And suddenly,
we all audibly gasp, realizing the significance of this story.  After all
that time, after all that suffering, after so much pride being invested in
that name, it would die with him.  Since all the daughters married and took
their husbands' name, the only chance to continue was him, and he was about
to agree to never marry or sire children.  And I remember thinking to
myself, "Damn.  That's devotion."



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