Blood & Come

[dr_mabeuse]

Just read this very cool little book "The Juice of Life" by What's-his-name, who teaches comparative lit at the U of Bologna (seriously. In Italy). He specializes in medieval manuscripts and his book is a history of the magical and symbolic properties of blood in western culture through the middle ages. If you like really obscure bloody mysticism and non-rational thought, this book could be for you.

One of the misconceptions of the early middle ages was that males carried the seed of life in their semen while women just provided the fertile ground in which the seed could grow (Not too androcentric, were they?) When human sperm were finally observed under a microscope, it was thought that each sperm contained a miniature human being, called a homunculus.

Scholars and deep thinkers had noticed that men discharge semen whereas women seem to discharge blood, so the thinking was that all that was required to form a human being was to mix semen and blood together and wait nine months. The fact that this didn't seem to work didn't bother them. They just figured they hadn't got the in vitro conditions right.

However, if semen were allowed just sit around and grow 'corrupted', the homunculi it contained could give rise to corrupted versions of human beings, or monsters.

I throw this out as a possible idea for an erotic horror story, free of charge (minus ten percent of the gross if the screenplay is sold.)


---dr.M.

 

[MathGirl]

Just read this very cool little book "The Juice of Life" by What's-his-name, who teaches comparative lit at the U of Bologna (seriously. In Italy).

Dear Dr M,
You talkin' bout Humberto Eco, the guy who teaches semiotics at that place where they make lunch meat? Never heard of him.
Helpfully,
MG

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Humberto Eco... why does that name ring a bell? What else has he written? Anything fictional?

 

[MathGirl]

H.Eco

Humberto Eco... why does that name ring a bell? What else has he written? Anything fictional?

Dear Svenska,
He wrote "The Name of the Rose" which is a very good murder mystery/detective story set in medieval times. You sure learned a lot about monks and the monastic life reading that. Made into a movie with Sean Connery, I think, but I never saw it.

I think Humberto Eco might be one of the more intelligent people living today.
MG

 

[Svenskaflicka]

That's it!

Thanks, MG. Now I can go to sleep.

 

[pop_54]

Re: H.Eco

Dear Svenska,
He wrote "The Name of the Rose" which is a very good murder mystery/detective story set in medieval times. You sure learned a lot about monks and the monastic life reading that. Made into a movie with Sean Connery, I think, but I never saw it.

I think Humberto Eco might be one of the more intelligent people living today.
MG

Damn good movie it was too, set in a monastary and traced the investigations of a visiting monk, (Connery) and his apprentice into a series of murders committed by a resident monk who was trying to stop his brothers reading the truth about the world.
The offender poisoned the corner of the book in question so that anyone who licked their fingers to turn the pages got the chop.
Very realistic and well adapted from the original writings.

 

[Gabriel_Lee]

Umberto Eco

Humberto Eco... why does that name ring a bell? What else has he written? Anything fictional?

Dear Svenska,
He wrote "The Name of the Rose" which is a very good murder mystery/detective story set in medieval times. You sure learned a lot about monks and the monastic life reading that. Made into a movie with Sean Connery, I think, but I never saw it.

I think Humberto Eco might be one of the more intelligent people living today.

... and also: Foucault's Pendulum & The Island of The Day Before. I would recommend Foucault's Pendulum. It also mentions homunculi at one point, but is very much about the the mythology of belief.

GL

 

[Guest]

homunculi, homuncula

Very interesting thread beginning. I love to see homunculi and semiotics mentioned nearly on the same page, not to mention from Lit. writers.

Dr. M: does your book have those cool illustrations (engravings) of teeny homunculi (love to say/write it) floating around in the sperm? Those medieval minds were fantastic.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Here's the dope: thebook is "The Juice of Life (the Symbolic and Magic Significance of Blood)" by Piero Camporesi, with--get this--a foreword by Umberto Eco! (Man, we're plugged into the old telluric currents tonight, hey?)

No, Perdita, it doesn't have any engravings, but it's got lots of great sexual-religious stuff in it and lots of fascinating medieval 'scientific' theory, in addition to some descriptions of some really chilling tortures, mad Popes, demented Saints, and ecstatics whipping themselves. Saint Theresa's depraved description of the secret meaning of the wound in Christ's side is worth the price of admission alone!

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

from one ecstatic to another

(Man, we're plugged into the old telluric currents tonight, hey?)

. . . descriptions of some really chilling tortures, mad Popes, demented Saints, and ecstatics whipping themselves. Saint Theresa's depraved description of the secret meaning of the wound in Christ's side is worth the price of admission alone!

Man, I know all about mad Popes and demented saints. Went to Catholic schools pre-VII (if you don't know what that means you don't need to). If it's Teresa de Avila, I love reading her. She and St. John of the Cross wrote some of the most religious-erotic poetry ever.

Special for the Doc. - Purrditta

 

[MathGirl]

Piero and Umberto

Huh. Me guessing the entirely wrong person at least gave rise to some interesting discussion. Too bad it was about a whole other guy. They to have some smart wo.... faculty members there where they make the lunch meat.
MG

Ps. Sorry I brought Umberto E. up. My misteak

Pps. Sorry about the way I spelled your first name, Umberto

Ppps. He wasn't Lolita's boyfriend, was he? Oh, No. His name was Hubert Humphrey

 

[Guest]

Re: Piero and Umberto

Huh. Me guessing the entirely wrong person at least gave rise to some interesting discussion. Too bad it was about a whole other guy. They to have some smart wo.... faculty members there where they make the lunch meat. MG

Ps. Sorry I brought Umberto E. up. My misteak
Pps. Sorry about the way I spelled your first name, Umberto
Ppps. He wasn't Lolita's boyfriend, was he? Oh, No. His name was Humbert H.

MG: you dumbfound me. I don't know what you mean, but that's OK.

I prefer Jas. Mason's HH vs. Jeremy Irons (whom I often like).

p.s. I need Svenska to talk to me about Alan Rickman.

 

[Gabriel_Lee]

Semiotics

Just to be helpful (and bump my posts up a bit)

Semiotics for Beginners

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Re: Re: Piero and Umberto

p.s. I need Svenska to talk to me about Alan Rickman.

Alan, Alan, Alan... The angel with black wings... I wonder if we will ever get to see him playing a good guy? And if so - would we believe it?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

There is ONE big problem with Alan, though...

 

[dr_mabeuse]

MathGirl,

As I recall, Lolito's boyfriend's name was Humpty Dumpty. You're thinking of Horatio Hornblower.

Okay, here's some more medieval wisdom from that book:

The medieval scholars were very disturbed by women's menstrual blood. They figured it was dross, the impurities from the blood that a woman would discharge to keep her blood pure. Men don't do this (so I'm told), so they were stuck with this problem: could a woman's blood be purer than a man's? It was common knowledge at the time that women were inferior to men, so it bothered them that she could have purer blood.

This problem became a subject of discourse just about the time the code of chivalry appeared, with its deification of ideal womanhood, and was one of the arguments given to suppoirt the theory. Supposedly that explains why women are inherently more comely than men: purer blood.

The book also has a list of the "ten threes" that was a popular folk poem of the time. This defined feminine beauty and said that to be truly beautiful, a woman was supposed to have 3 straight things, 3 short things, 3 long things, 3 white, 3 black, 3 red, etc. etc. (The three red things, for example, were supposed to be her lips, her cheeks, and her nails. They get more interesting from there.)

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

There is ONE big problem with Alan, though...

Svenskita: I laughed outloud, I'm still grinning. Thanks! I was really worried and almost didn't open the pic. Honestly, don't some people have better things to do than deface national icons?

Hunnybabe, you do know Alan has played good guys? 'Sense & Sensibleness', 'Truly, Madly, Deeply', 'Blow Job'. . .

Actually, it's 'Blow Dry'. I loved in in 'Galaxy Quest', his divine disdain.

anon, must get around to other scenes today, Perdita

 

[MathGirl]

MathGirl,
As I recall, Lolito's boyfriend's name was Humpty Dumpty. You're thinking of Horatio Hornblower.

Oh, of course. How silly of me.
MG

Ps. "Captain Horatio Hornblower" Was that written by E.M.Forster, Jodie Foster, C.H.Forrester, Foster Brooks, Forrest Tucker, Tucker Frederickson, or Brooks Robinson? Robinson Crusoe? Sigghhhh

 

[Sabledrake]

The menstruation thing was quite the source of mystery and envy to men in the old days. Since the advent of menses was a sign of adulthood in girls, and since boys didn't have such a really definitive sign, it led to some pretty awful rituals in some cultures.

I'm currently working on a project that's required a lot of research into sex in history and myth (it's almost a damn graduate thesis by now!). Boy, the stuff you run across! Boggles the mind.

Sabledrake

 

[Guest]

for Svenskrushkaya

Svensk-girl: get a load of these nipps. P.

Everyone: please excuse our self-indulgence; we're addicted to this villainous virility.

 

[oggbashan]

Captain Horatio Hornblower

Oh, of course. How silly of me.
MG

Ps. "Captain Horatio Hornblower" Was that written by E.M.Forster, Jodie Foster, C.H.Forrester, Foster Brooks, Forrest Tucker, Tucker Frederickson, or Brooks Robinson? Robinson Crusoe? Sigghhhh

Horatio Hornblower stories were written by C S Forester. Captain Hornblower is an omnibus volume containing three of the novels.

Horatio Hornblower was based on a real British Admiral. C S Forester had to change a significant part of the career because the original Admiral sent his Marines to burn the White House in the war of 1812 which they did. As C S Forester didn't want to lose sales in the US, he rewote "Hornblower's" career.

But of course you knew that.

Og

 

[Guest]

Re: Captain Horatio Hornblower

Horatio Hornblower stories were written by C S Forester...

My first husband was from London and Hornblower was a childhood hero, as was Nelson. I read the novels, being a good mate, and enjoyed them; also Brit-history.

For the girls: a recent serialized TV production of Hornblower features an amazingly gorgeous welshman, Ioan Gruffudd. Check him out. The production is excellent for all other reasons too.

Mr. Og: I miss the hat photo, despite all the guffaws from some gurls. Tell me this is you. If not, don't.

Perdita

 

[MathGirl]

Re: Captain Horatio Hornblower

But of course you knew that.

No, I didn't. Give me time, though, I'm just twenty.

I saw the video of the Gregory Peck movie, though. Very good. My favorite character was the barking mad "El Supremo" who was some sort of Mexican dictator and demanded more guns be fired in salute to him as to the King of England.

Ever since I saw that, I've thought of martinets as "El Supremo." There are plenty of them in academia, and it's hard not to laugh when I compare them with "El Supremo."
MG

Ps. I recently read that there are places in the White House where the burn marks from 1812 can still be seen. At least Dolley Madison saved the silver service. Damn Brits!

 

[Gabriel_Lee]

burn marks

Originally posted by MathGirl
Ps. I recently read that there are places in the White House where the burn marks from 1812 can still be seen. At least Dolley Madison saved the silver service. Damn Brits!

On the behalf of the Brits, I apologise for the burn marks in the White House. Any other problems you may have inside the building must have been put there by someone else.

 

[MathGirl]

Og's cake

Dear Og,
I'm glad you found your cake.
MG