Mr. Greenblatt reprints a curse that one monastery placed in its manuscripts upon those who neglect to return books. Some readers, I suspect, will wish to write it in their own books, perhaps even this evening. It begins: “For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck with palsy, and all his members blasted.” It goes on: “let bookworms gnaw his entrails”; “Let the flames of Hell consume him forever.” Amen, brother.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Let bookworms gnaw his entrails
A rather excellent curse as related in Dwight Garner's review of Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment