Another good remark I got, during our animated discussion of Nick Joaquin’s May Day Eve, was that textual us of the terms “devil” and “witch” indicated that these were at that time the colloquial counterpart of “bastard” and “bitch” respectively. Just like the term “screw” back then didn’t mean gratuitous sex. On the other hand, the use of the images of the devil and the witch in this story called forth archetypal signifiers that made it a lot more cryptic—and yet, familiar. The catholic imagination filters anything pleasurable and beautiful and luxuriant as tempting and therefore evil. Not surprisingly, the central characters in May Day Eve were both young, good looking, at the prime of their (sexual) lives and therefore teetering on the edge of sin. Which brings us to why evil is often represented as a beautiful temptress or as an extremely attractive man always ready to seduce you, or even as a highly coveted, rare object that can give you power, prestige or wealth (think Friday the 13th, Bedazzled, etc.)
Anyway, this doesn’t apply to surreal/magic realist literature alone. Deception happens all the time, everywhere, in real life. And, of course, because it’s supposed to deceive you best beware of it in the most unlikely places, circumstances and people. If you’re sensitive to the signs, you’ll see it. At the present I am aware that some self-righteous person has been deceiving me—doing some surreptitious defamation, backstabbing me and yet that person [with a serious case of “messianic complex”] has the gall to act all nice and friendly around me. That kind of person is even worse than someone who shows me outright detestation.
It just proves that people who think they’re the saints and saviors of the world are actually the demons and dimwits that plague it.
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