the secret of black

[theholyinnocent]

...And after all the other birds were up and about their affairs--even after the jay, who would burst each morning from the mist, screeching in a blue rage at these damned early birds who never let a fellow finish his rest--the crows would make their stately entrance. From the tops of the firs they would swoop, laughing with a sort of pitiless amusement at the lesser birds, and circle away in a slow, disorganized flock bound for the mudflats, sometimes leaving her feeling strangely disturbed. Perhaps because they reminded her of the magpies from around her Colorado home--carrion eaters, lining the rabbit-killing highways, living off death--but she thought there must be more to it than just that. Magpies were, all in all, rather silly birds. The crows, for all their raucous laughter, never seemed silly....

Again in the evening she often saw through the barn window the crows returning from their daily contest with the pigs; sometimes one or two were conspicuously maimed, or even missing. She didn't know about the pigs, how they were taking the contest, but, win or lose, the crows always laughed--the hard, old jaded laughter that came of looking at the world with a black and practiced eye. From the less skillful the laugh might have hinted of despair, or silliness, like the magpies', but the crows were masters of the wry outlook...they knew the secret of black, that it could not be made blacker, and if neither could it made lighter, it could still be made funnier.

~from Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion

Comments

[phryneateleusis.livejournal.com]

It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm an idiot and I had to Google that...I've completely forgotten Spinal Tap except for the Stonehenge bit...

[stargazer1960.livejournal.com]

I like this excerpt. I am such a nerd. I can stand at the kitchen window and watch the bird feeder and be very content. We had two goldfinches there today!

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

My missus (and sometimes the cat) likes to watch for the birdies too. She said there was a woodpecker (I think) out there the other day...

[badtyler.livejournal.com]

Sadly, it can be made lighter... if you wash it too many times.
Although it does look pretty funny, if you are attempting sophistication and are wearing three shades of black.

Seriously-- wonderful quote from a great book that I should really read again.

*adds to ever-growing list*

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

I think I just did that today--wore three shades of black! Does charcoal gray count? :)

I'm not normally a huge fan of Ken Kesey--tried to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and really didn't like it much at all. But I am a sucker for these big epic books.

[badtyler.livejournal.com]

Does charcoal gray count? Hmmm... only if it was jet black when you bought it.

Someone recced Kesey's last book --'Sailor Song' to me and it was great. The beginning scene involves a cat trying to extract his head from a mayonnaise jar. I know it sounds cruel but it was funny as hell! No kitties were harmed in the writing, I assure you...

I'm out of 'Dexter' for a couple of days. Methinks the withdrawal symptoms are kicking in.
Oh, noes!

[macayagirl.livejournal.com]

I just spent the weekend with most of my sisters and it was just like this. honest.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Ha! Glad you survived, chica. :)

[noir-moll.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me that I must finish this book. I bought it last spring to read at the airport/on the plane during my NYC trip and never finished it once I returned home. It's the sort of book I really have to take my time reading. I can't plow through it on a weekend or holiday. And that's kept me from picking it back up, I think.

I've been trying to track down the movie adaptation that Paul Newman directed and starred in for years. My dad rented it on VHS when I was a kid but I can't find it on DVD.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

I just finished it this weekend...it was my subway book, so I read a little bit every day on my commute. Took me nearly two months to read it, I think. But yeah, not something you can plow through on a weekend. In fact, I kind of hit a wall with it around page 500...Kesey percolates the plot for a loooong time and admittedly I was getting a tad impatient.

Hey, I remember that movie too--looked for it on Netflix and elsewhere, but nada.

[maroukian.livejournal.com]

...but the crows were masters of the wry outlook...they knew the secret of black, that it could not be made blacker, and if neither could it made lighter, it could still be made funnier.


It's perfect. It is exactly the kind of phrase I would expect you to note.

It's perfect.

[theholyinnocent.livejournal.com]

Thanks, M. :)

I got it my head to read this novel because I remembered that my brother had a copy of it many, many years ago. And while I don't remember any specific conversations with him about the book, I have the impression that he liked it and it meant something to him.