inspiration

i was responding to a webct assignment just now, about anthologies and who/what got included. i'd remarked upon the [to me] lamentable inclusion of "young goodman brown" and wondered why "rappaccini's daughter" was left out in the cold so often. and you know, i just had to go look up the text and read it, for old time's sake. i loved that story.

on reading it again, i feel the need to own up to some stuff.

first off, thanks to the good doctor at cua for introducing me to the story. this single act was the start of many characters, a small handful of infectious magical diseases, among other things. only after a refresher could i see just how indebted i am to the good doctor for that american lit course. wow.

next, thanks to the very dead nathaniel hawthorne who wrote the story. cheers, man, it's a good one. i'm guessing you readers can find the full text in a google search. it's a quick read, and well worth the time. hawthorne's works have had a great deal of influence on my fantasy. the supernatural elements mixed so surreally into the concrete "real" world is something he does very well, and that i try to emmulate, though not previously with any kind of consciousness.

it's kind of odd. i hated house of the seven gables, and was only passingly fond of scarlet letter. goodman brown, as you might have guessed from my grumbling above, never passed muster in my book. but the other stories, yeah. that's some good stuff. makes you shiver.

so go out and read some hawthorne. his mad scientists are the epitome for me. and that poison garden, with the toxic girl... such an impact. really. no matter how much hard fact i read when it comes to poisons, elixirs, toxins of all kinds, viruses, blood, tissue, diseases... no matter how many biology textbooks i read cover to cover, or botany books i devour on the weekends, or anatomy books i keep close beside myself... my understanding of this stuff leans heavily toward the concept of poisons (and diseases of the blood) accumulating in the body in a kind of symbiotic relationship, killing others, but leaving the poisoned being unharmed.

one might say that hawthorne's writing has haunted my research, but in a good way.

thanks, buddy. i owe you.

love and peace [go read rappaccini's daughter!]