Gott versprach sich, als er den Menschen schuf.
God misspoke when he created the human being.
—Elias Canetti
Je edler ein Ding in seiner Vollkommenheit, desto grässlicher in seiner Verwesung.
The nobler a thing in its perfection, the more hideous it will be in its decomposition.
—Moses Mendelssohn, quoting a ‘Hebraic writer’
Dedicated to Joseph Suglia
Thanks to Friedrich Nietzsche, D.H. Lawrence, and J.G. Ballard.
Reference is made to “Mussel Hunter at Rock Harbor” by Sylvia Plath, “Der Panther” by Rainer Maria Rilke, Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats, “Decorative Art in America” by Oscar Wilde, and the Natural History of Pliny the Elder.
Copyright 2014 by Joseph Suglia
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