Any writer will tell you that ideas for a book will accrue over time into a surfeit that might cripple a book’s execution. Here's how I escape the trap.
Your argument regarding the term "evil" has forced to acknowledge that I've also always used the word as a 'get out of jail free' description. It reminds me of the same vacuity of phrases like 'thoughts and prayers'. Meaning, ultimately nothing. I have to read this entire post again as you pushed me through so many layers of images. I'm also digging out my copy of Ariel, a book I haven't read in 30 years. Thank you.
Jan 1, 2023·edited Jan 1, 2023Liked by Frederick Woodruff
Love this.
Yes, calling someone a monster betrays a childish view of human nature. For killers like Dahmer are not from fairytale labyrinths in dark dungeons, but are on the continuum of human nature, at the extreme, but still part of the human story -- which is to say, someone like you and me.
Calling him a "monster" seems to be a denial of this, very much evocative of the lady who suspiciously protests too much.
One of the curious things about Dahmer was his plain-spoken sincerity, devoid of the hubris and shameless excuses of killers like John Gacy and Ted Bundy.
Gacy and Bundy never took responsibility for their murder compulsion. With Gacy, it was always someone else's fault, usually the boys he killed. With Bundy, who gave a slick, icy impersonation of a normal, good-looking guy, he complained he was innocent almost to the end, in the face of staggering evidence, finally blaming his murder sprees on something as pedestrian as pornography.
Your argument regarding the term "evil" has forced to acknowledge that I've also always used the word as a 'get out of jail free' description. It reminds me of the same vacuity of phrases like 'thoughts and prayers'. Meaning, ultimately nothing. I have to read this entire post again as you pushed me through so many layers of images. I'm also digging out my copy of Ariel, a book I haven't read in 30 years. Thank you.
Love this.
Yes, calling someone a monster betrays a childish view of human nature. For killers like Dahmer are not from fairytale labyrinths in dark dungeons, but are on the continuum of human nature, at the extreme, but still part of the human story -- which is to say, someone like you and me.
Calling him a "monster" seems to be a denial of this, very much evocative of the lady who suspiciously protests too much.
One of the curious things about Dahmer was his plain-spoken sincerity, devoid of the hubris and shameless excuses of killers like John Gacy and Ted Bundy.
Gacy and Bundy never took responsibility for their murder compulsion. With Gacy, it was always someone else's fault, usually the boys he killed. With Bundy, who gave a slick, icy impersonation of a normal, good-looking guy, he complained he was innocent almost to the end, in the face of staggering evidence, finally blaming his murder sprees on something as pedestrian as pornography.