[lit-ideas] Re: A Job of Work
- From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 03:44:17 +0900
On 2/9/06, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>We wanted to be able to think, "I should not be blamed that
> he was laid off instead of me," especially when the person being laid off
> was a good friend.
>
An acute observation this. Also, of course, yet another example of the
central problem to which theodicy, Azande and other forms of
witchcraft, _When Bad Things Happen to Good People_ and "Holy Willie's
Prayer" are all, in their various ways addressed.
The Azande reference is, by the way, to E.E. Evans-Pritchard,
_Witchraft, Oracle and Magic among the Azande_, a classic of British
social anthropology, in which the author observes that if termites
undermine a storehouse resulting in its collapse and the breaking of
someone's leg they understand perfectly well the natural process in
question. They still want to know, however, why it was that particular
someone's leg that got broken. Their answer is "Witchcraft."
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama 220-0006, JAPAN
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