hope in other spells: Day Two
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| "Leda and the Swan" by Nikolay Kalmakoff (via Coulthart) |
The Sex Magicians Chapter Thirteen: "Who knows what Evil lurks in the hearts of men?" (pg. 84-97)
Well, this is quite a chapter. Aside from the regular goetia of anxieties I have buzzing around, I think I've dithered on this post because I'm not sure that writing is not the best medium for the consideration of a chapter that is smutty, profound, flippant, obscene and iconoclastic. I would much prefer to have a conversation about this, without the permanance of type and the ability to change my mind between statements and then claim I always meant what I was thinking at that moment.
Alas, like Mary Kelly's respectability, that eventuality is forfeit.
The chapter begins with the famous tagline of The Shadow pulp stories and radio adaptations. Arlen Riley was famously a writer for The Shadow during the Fifties, right before the time Wilson was welcomed gently-but-somewhat-brusqley into her apartment. The Shadow knows if Arlen Riley scripted those specific shows (Alan Moore) The most beautiful woman in the universe...he would have been working with Her, still experimenting with and without LSD and almost certainly still with ritual, when he was writing this chapbook. Inspiration lies here within this fecund, seeded vulgarity. Josh Dill, who is much closer to the later iterations of Simon Moon than Simeon Moon, heralds the profundity that occurs partway through this chapter with lips spread with vaginal fluids and whipped cream. Suddenly, the Sex Magicians, or at least one of them, has arrived at the party.
A couple of instances of language that would absolutely not be acceptable in today's world, although there was a heavy, modernish dose of irony in their usage, made me want to jump to Wilson's defense. Another time, a distant age, and all that shit. I'm being dismissive, but I'm still going with that. I believe Wilson's HGA or heart was in the right place.
Take, for instance, the increasingly turgid turmoil of the seduction of Mary Kelly with Stan the Hand(s); is this a chronicle of disturbing coercion or a lascivious tale of liberation from middle-class, Protestant mores? Wilson gets into heavy erotic detail, making sure to fold in his satirical, Dickian advertisements while Stan prevails against Mary's qualms. Reading the text, it is obvious that Mary wants the sexual encounter, and what Wilson was depicting was a weakening of unexamined limits. The word of sin is restriction and all that.
I'm glad we have advanced so much in so little time, even if it isn't enough, that today this scene can make a reader uncomfortable. Furthermore, I'm glad that reading porn leads to greater introspection than other avenues of consumption. Sex shouldn't be repressed or guilt ridden, but it certainly shouldn't be thoughtless or compulsive.
Because of my proclivities, I was absolutely comparing the moment to Sput's speech that wove into the fumbling first night, the examination room and the orgiastic interjections to the current moment. What do we do with such a spout of contradictory nonsense? Does anyone agree on what the Constitution says anymore? Are political, satirical and some most-likely-sincere political musings from half a century ago relevant in any meaningful way? Who knows? But Sput is a great character and Wilson does add enough intellectual stimulation between the titillation to make this something that could plausibly have appeared in a more self-aware, daring and self-effacing version of Playboy.
The vignette with Marvin Gardens is simplistic, crude and reductive. But goddamnit, it does always make me laugh. Especially the imagery of the apple as a symbol of disinterest/restraint. I'll go ahead and point out here that while King Kong has a five foot phallus in Josie's fantasy, Wilson notes that based on the dimensions of actual gorillas, Kong's dong would be disappointingly not-long.
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Thank you for writing this. I find interesting to read the various versions of some of this material, in the three volume Schoedinger's Cat, the one volume version, the short story in the Hilaritas Natural Law, and the Sex Magicians.
ReplyDeleteI really need to get Natural Law, I didn't know that a version of the story was in there.
DeleteNatural Law (the Hilaritas version) is a great collection, one of my favorite RAW books.
DeleteThe first time Sput speaks in this chapter (p. 86) does sound spot on to today's situation. Wilson uses a word on that page, "faggoty" very close to the English translation of a word Pope Francis got in trouble for using, "faggotry" twice. Last Fall I did sound for the humorist and New Yorker columnist David Sedaris, who identifies as gay, and who got invited along with a number of other comedians to meet the Pope last year. He made fun of that controversy thinking it nonsense.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know where the Shakespeare reference to toothaches (bottom of p. 88 - 89) comes from?
The sex scene with Sput, then Dr. Prong seems secondary to their intellectual musings. The sex scene between Stan Oedipusky and Mary Kelly appears very comical around the cigar, blow job moment then addresses a likely common neurosis of "proper" young ladies at the time about not being respected after intercourse. The sexual fantasies at the end of the chapter sound hyperbolic. I don't really see any magic in this chapter after one reading unless the pure carnal aspect relates to the opening quote. Anything intelligent said in this chapter seems to have nothing to do with sex with the exception of the bearded man (Anton LeVay?) giving the advice not to be ashamed of your fantasies.
One of my longtime clients (30 + years) now leads the whimsical, avant garde, big band Belgium jazz group, Flat Earth Society. Chaney's phrase, In your heart you know it's flat would work for them too. They toured the US last Fall, I went to hear them play in San Jose before the election. During one of their jams they played a sample of Dear Leader at the debate saying: "They're eating the cats and dogs ...etc." At the break they asked me if they could get in trouble for that? I said, no it's fine, the first amendment and all that. If they did that now and ICE or another branch of MAGA enforcement heard them, they'd probably get tossed in jail before getting tossed out of the country.
The magic is of the crude, narrative type that would have been found in other cheap paperbacks around this time. The man with the spade shaped beard, Simeon Luna, is probably modeled more after the archetype that LeVay himself was emulating. I do like the hamfisted, an inaccurate, reference to the Gnostic Mass.
DeleteYeah, I wouldn't tour here right now if I were them.
You're probably right about LaVey modeling himself after the same diabolic archetype. I wonder if he read The Sex Magicians?
Deletehttps://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/there-was-never-yet-philosopher-that-could-endure Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. - EW
ReplyDeleteThis is the second instance of Sput referencing Shakespeare. I find that the depth and complexity of character in him that we slowly discover makes him interesting. Pretentious, but actually erudite. Self-absorbed, but self-aware as well. Wealthy but generous. On top of an empire, but friendly nonetheless. Surrounded by people, but lonely. Knowledgeable but kinda dumb. He’s growing on me.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I wouldn’t go as far as Stella when she says “you’re all heart, Sput.”
Although Sput indeed says “I could weep, I tell you”, by the end of the chapter, “Mary Kelly was weeping”, not him.
I certainly found the Stan and Mary Kelly part of the chapter uncomfortable. Both because of Stan’s insistence AND Mary Kelly’s numerous ‘no’ really meaning ‘try again and I might say yes’. I agree with you that in the end, this is about liberating her from her conservative upbringing, but as far as I am concerned, the scene still leaves me feeling pretty uneasy. It might be good at sparking a debate, but I wouldn’t think of masturbating to it. If I am being entirely honest, I also find the stop-and-go pattern of their encounter more of a frustrating mood killer than an effective build-up of sexual tension. Personal preferences, perhaps!
p. 84, almost at the bottom: “...working the nipple something fierce.”
Isn’t there a word missing here, or some weird grammar thing going on?
There is a film called The King of Marvin Gardens, directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern. It came out in 1972, a year prior to the first publication of The Sex Magicians, so it seems plausible that RAW saw it at the time of writing.
On p. 89, “The wig questions, think about them enough and you blow your wig.”
Reminded me of “’tis an ill wind that blows no mind.”
The Tarantella and Dill whipped cream sex thing reminds me of good old Herb Alpert ‘Whipped Cream & Other Delights’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c316dKmRdI
“You’ve got to promise to lick all of it off, all of it.”
Sput is a fun character. I think he speaks to the ambivalent view that Wilson had of Hugh Hefner.
ReplyDeleteThe Stan and Mary scenes are uncomfortable. I am truly happy that we live in a more nuanced environment. Personally, the only way I can masturbate in relation to this book is imagining King Kong going through SPH (small penis humiliation). Personal preferences.
I'll have to check out that film. Reading about the film, it does sound like the type of flick that Wilson would have enjoyed. Maybe Eric would know something.
Very groovy tune by Alpert. The local oldies station was playing his version of "A Taste of Honey" a couple weeks ago.
My favorite sentences: "She was counting mentally because a local expert on morality had told her that it became sinful after twenty seconds. Alas, she lost count around fourteen."
ReplyDeleteI suppose you could do a compare-and-contrast of this chapter with Chapter Six, where the roles of the man and woman are reversed -- it is the man who is reluctant at first.
Fourteen is a very lucky number. According to Gandalf.
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