mo no no ke: kursuri-uri (pt1)
30 Nov 2008 03:38 amWARNING: IMAGE HEAVY! NOTE: some images missing, lost in journal-transfer
I'm going to start in an odd place: the xtian book of revelations. (No, stay with me on this one!) One of the few biblical-text classes I took in college was on this part of the xtian bible, and I took it mostly because it fit into my schedule & I liked the professor -- which means I've done a pretty good job of knocking a lot of the information out of my head, so don't bother asking. What I didn't knock out was the one crucial detail to comprehending the book, because it fascinated me then and still does. Not as a theologian or philosopher, but as a writer.
See, the thing about understanding that text is that it leans hard and heavy on Judaic symbolism, phrasing, and styles. Whomever wrote it -- whether you go for the John What's His Face theory or some other theory -- on a textual level, it's a masterpiece of reworked Judaic imagery. In some ways, to really see the depths of the symbolism, you first need to know Judaic symbolism inside and out. It's very much a case of someone who came from that culture (ignoring the issue of religion) enough that much of the cultural language, the connotations, were second nature.
( Lack of fluency means always asking, am I noticing this because it's supposed to be noticed? Or am I twigging on this detail because it unwittingly carries weight in my native cultural language? ... thus asking, naturally I proceed to twig like crazy. )
However, it's late and this is going to have to wait to be continued for when I have more braincells, and more sleep. In the meantime, I leave you all with the admission that never again will I ridicule those Naruto cosplayers for having to wear fishnets with their quasi-ninja quasi-historical garb.
This is why.
Live and learn, even if that does mean learning Japan was goth liek woah, centuries before it was cool.
I'm going to start in an odd place: the xtian book of revelations. (No, stay with me on this one!) One of the few biblical-text classes I took in college was on this part of the xtian bible, and I took it mostly because it fit into my schedule & I liked the professor -- which means I've done a pretty good job of knocking a lot of the information out of my head, so don't bother asking. What I didn't knock out was the one crucial detail to comprehending the book, because it fascinated me then and still does. Not as a theologian or philosopher, but as a writer.
See, the thing about understanding that text is that it leans hard and heavy on Judaic symbolism, phrasing, and styles. Whomever wrote it -- whether you go for the John What's His Face theory or some other theory -- on a textual level, it's a masterpiece of reworked Judaic imagery. In some ways, to really see the depths of the symbolism, you first need to know Judaic symbolism inside and out. It's very much a case of someone who came from that culture (ignoring the issue of religion) enough that much of the cultural language, the connotations, were second nature.
( Lack of fluency means always asking, am I noticing this because it's supposed to be noticed? Or am I twigging on this detail because it unwittingly carries weight in my native cultural language? ... thus asking, naturally I proceed to twig like crazy. )
However, it's late and this is going to have to wait to be continued for when I have more braincells, and more sleep. In the meantime, I leave you all with the admission that never again will I ridicule those Naruto cosplayers for having to wear fishnets with their quasi-ninja quasi-historical garb.
This is why.
Live and learn, even if that does mean learning Japan was goth liek woah, centuries before it was cool.