TAGGED! [A meme iz mir!]

OH NO!


The search for emes in the known universe (E-kvetcher: http://search-for-emes.blogspot.com/ ) has tagged me with a meme.


Now, a year ago I would not have had a clue what that means. I have since then seen the meme-tagging process in full bloom. And I think I grasp its zen-like verity. And beauty like the cherry blossoms in the cold wind of spring.

Or something equally interekshurul sounding, yes.



Book Meme
1. One book that changed your life?
Two books: Peppers: A Story of Hot Pursuits, by Amal Naj.
Indian Food : A Historical Companion, by K.T. Achaya


2. One book you have read more than once?
Ada, by Vladimir Nabokov.
The Torah.


3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet, by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius.
Either in Dutch or English.


4. One book that made you laugh?Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy O'Toole.


5. One book that made you cry?
I'm sorry, I seem to have a mental block - I cannot remember any such book.


6. One book you wish had been written?
"Crimson Blossoms: The Vocabulary of Headhunting Among the Tribes of Borneo".

One of the things which distinguishes the terminology regarding headhunting is the depth of metaphor and the poetic description of the process. Heads harvested from rival tribes are described as bright red flowers, potent batteries, powerful totems, beloved friends, after death companions, and guardians against evil. They are considered to bring fertility to both fields and women; great power to both clans and houses; prosperity, happiness, and the absence of disease. When the raiding party returns the heads are made welcome, chickens are slaughtered, the longhouse feasts, young maidens dance with the bloody heads and sing to them, and much rice wine is drunk from heirloom vats. Tomorrow the trophies will be prepared for long storage - cleansed of flesh, dried, polished, and woven into a wickerwork basket, for hanging in the rafters, where they will join the heads gathered in generations past, amid the boar-tusks and poison-bundles. And next year, we will do it again.

While headhunting was most avidly practiced by upland tribes, even the civilized lowland polities had memories of headhunting, which under certain circumstances would either experience a sudden (joyfully) bloody resurgence, or be celebrated in song.

Here's a section from a Tamarao poem:
Jale sapuwang, kulo sametek,
Banta masurak, bala maketek;
Prawo sapasig, nente nagara,
Taralangtuwa Radja Bahara.
Takot ki banye, karana amok,
Ratos tan ribo, salaksa rampok;
Pangkod maadja, parong malisek,
Lalang taura, daga tapitek.
Li-ig na li-ig, terem takaga,
Tanggat pusaka, karga haraga;
Mayat ri hamog, lalo tararok,
Banye kapala, gantong marantok.

"Flowing like cloud drifts (the mass of warriors) altogether
Battled with war cries, conflicted monkey-like;
The boats along the river-bank sands, (arrayed) against the state,
Under the leadership of prince Bahara.
Fearful was the multitude, because of the blood-fury,
One hundred, one thousand, ten thousand in berserk rage.
The battle-standards erect, the war-swords sharp-gleaming,
The long grass crimson splattered, blood gushing,
Neck upon neck (till at last) sharpness became dull,
Seizing magically potent ritual heirlooms, and precious items;
Corpses in the battle-fog, recently swirled in motion,
A multitude of skulls, suspended and knocking together."

Now doesn't that just about get your juices flowing?


7. One book you wish had never been written?
The Abu Ghraib Investigations - because Abu Ghraib should never have happened.


8. One book you are currently reading?
T'ang Shi San Pai Shou (Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty).

This is one of my frequent revisits. There are many editions of this classic anthology, some with commentary in modern Chinese, some with only explanations of the more abstruse words in a demotic literary lashoin. The poems that are easiest to understand have, not surprisingly, become well-known favourites over the centuries - among these are verses by Wang Wei, Tu Fu, Li Shang-yin, and Li Po (Li Tai-Bak). There is a clarity and conciseness to Chinese poetry which gives intense pleasure, and under the pen of someone like Li Po the phrasing achieves exquisiteness - though I'm still pissed at him for forcing me to learn a word of NO. USE. WHAT SO EVER!, that even in his day was impossibly archaic and eccentric, and it turns out that it referred to an alcoholic barley slurry used during Shang and early Chou as an offering in ancestral rituals; nowadays that word is never used, except when a) quoting that particular poem, and b) discussing odd cultic details from three thousand years ago.

Does Li Po really think that I'm going to have discussions on Dupont Street in which I'll be able to slyly slip in this word? Maybe I'll ask a shop-keeper for Pearl River Brand Mushroom Sauce, dried balutong, and his recommendation regarding rotten barley soup that smells like fruity liquid Limburger? He believes perhaps that late-night drunken conversations at Candy Wong's place are going to evolve into high-fallutin' literary discussions? Good heavens, man, what is your blessed T'ang era presumption of the richness of my life? What on earth were you thinking twelve centuries ago? Pretentious git.


9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Halachic Man, by Joseph B. Soloveichik


10. Now tag five people

Steg (http://boroparkpyro.blogspot.com/)
Labrab (http://labrab.blogspot.com/)
Balabusta in Blue-Jeans (http://www.balabustabluejeans.blogspot.com/)
Tafka (the artist FORMERLY known as Purple Parrot: http://goingslightlymad.blogspot.com/)
The Curious Jew (http://curiousjew.blogspot.com/)

This choice is based on both the chances of their taking the meme-tag, and on the likelihood that their reading material will contain some very interesting surprises. Oh, and the fact that they have blogs. That seems a crucial part of this.


Note: Others I would like to see take this up, in no particular order, are Respondingtojblogs, Chardal, ADDERabbi, Baal Habos, Charlie Hall, Classmate wearing yarmulke, Lipman, Margabriel, Jameel, Lakewood Yid, and a large numbers of others. Unfortunately I do not see them enthusiastically jumping all over this idea like fire ants on a cadaver.

But if they do, so much the better.