Putrefaction

The word of the day for November 6 is "putrefaction."

putrefaction:: (noun)

1. Decomposition of organic matter, especially protein, by microorganisms, resulting in production of foul-smelling matter.
2. Moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles.

Synonyms: depravation, depravity, degeneracy, corruption

Usage: The country had fallen into a state of moral putrefaction, with corruption running rampant throughout the government ranks.

Relevance to my life: The stench of putrefaction wafting up from beneath the driver's seat of my car alerted me to the location of the missing sippy cup. The apple juice inside now swam with colonies of mold, floating in the cloudy juice like hideous black and green jellyfish.

Mmm, putrefaction. What a pleasant word. It even sounds repugnant. Thus far, my searches on Youtube under "putrefaction" have yielded a slew of death metal videos. Ha! How original.

I could do something concerned with moral putrefaction.

The first thing that leaps to mind when I think of moral putrefaction, other than televangelists, is the Marquis de Sade. That brings me to Peter Weiss's play-within-a-play, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, more commonly known as Marat/Sade.

Then there is the movie Quills, also about the Marquis's stay in the asylum. If I'm not mistaken, there was some scene in that movie which prompted me to scream, "I wish I could un-see that! Gah!" Fortunately, I've blanked it out, so I couldn't tell you what it was, though I suspect it involved a big pot of lye.


Quills trailer




Marat/Sade

Jesus, these people are crazy!