On the road this morning, I found myself thinking about the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. It's a work I've only read once, in translation (by Mark Musa, a translator whose Comedy did not earn my trust!), and that was a while back (2009). I guess what brought it to mind was recent speculations about the possible medium-term effects of the birdemic pecks. Although people don't usually put the Decameron in the post-apocalyptic genre, that's certainly where it belongs. The whole feel of the work, its Robinhoodish atmosphere of gay nihilism, is inseparable from its setting: a Europe which just lost a third of its population to the plague. A Steve Earle lyric came to mind.
When it all was over, the slate wiped clean with a touch,
There God stood, and he saw it was good,
And he said, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust."
"God saw that it was good" reminded me of the meaning of the word Decameron -- "ten days," a word created by Boccaccio by analogy with Hexameron, "six days," a title used for various theological works on the six days of Creation.
I thought of the "ten days of darkness" the Q people had promised back at the beginning of the year.
Then I noticed a huge electronic billboard in front of me: a man making a kabuki "soy face" and holding some packages of frozen meat. Under it, the flashing words "買十送一哦！" -- "Buy ten, get one free!"
I'm not about to try to cobble these syncs into a prophecy. I'm just taking notes.
2 comments:
1. One day I saw it on a very old map: Heaven. No elevation was noted. In my mind vague images began to form. I set the map aside and closed my eyes. Then there was a sudden commotion, the kind that may start up anyplace, whether on a train rocking along its tracks or just around an old bench somewhere. A group of people ran by me, waving their arms and making odd noises. What was it that suddenly made me reach for the old map, only to find it was gone? And I just sat there wondering what things were like in Heaven.
2. No one knows all the legends inspired by Heaven, but there are a few I’ve recently picked up—that its atmosphere will turn you into a raving visionary in a matter of hours, that after a few days you experience strange yearnings that are impossible to fulfill, that longtime residents are immortal and walk the mountain woods as skeletons. What can you expect from hearsay? But one thing is certain among these conjectures: no one wants to give Heaven a chance.
3. Only one way to Heaven: absolute madness. There is no pretense to esoteric knowledge in this statement. It is simple enough. Once you find that no one will vouch for your sanity, that is when you know you are making progress. You have become … wayward. To be at eye level with the world leads nowhere. When your gaze slips off the horizontal, though, hope becomes part of the equation. A grinning dwarf beckons you from the ledge of a tall building, gargoyles perched on cathedrals angle their snouts in your direction. And before you know it, you’re lying around in Heaven!
4. Not all that I have discovered about Heaven is glamorous. Despite a great deal of picturesque scenery—floating strands of mists, crooked trees, fabulous fingerlike peaks—this region contains more than a few perils. One of them is a solitude fit only for fanatics of exile, their eyes always draining the distances. Another is a wind which seems to be composed of countless tiny voices, the chattering populace of an invisible universe. The half-lit days and the sorcery of its nights, moments in which nothing moves and others in which everything stirs ceaselessly. But what would you expect from a place called Heaven?
5. Once I heard the words “Heaven” spoken in a crowd. Did I say that I saw who said them? I did not. It could have been anyone standing along the platform, waiting for the train to arrive. The same day someone threw himself under that train. He was cut in half … but what a happy expression was plastered on the face of that corpse. “Heaven!” I couldn’t help crying out in front of everyone. But as I suspected, no one came forward to confront me.
6. Not once but a thousand times have I wished to dwell forever in Heaven, even at the price of my mental balance. Even at the cost of my miserable life. No happiness except in those heights!
7. One morning I awoke and the pain in my head was worse than ever. I had to cover my eyes, the light coming through my window was so bright. Only the thought of Heaven brought me any relief.
8. There is no secret, I now realize, concerning the existence of Heaven. It seems everyone has known about it all along. I hear them discussing it everywhere. Heaven, yes. Heaven, certainly.
9. In Heaven no one talks about Heaven.
10. The train will be here soon.
Heaven sounds remarkably similar to a place I once heard of called Thin Mountain!
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