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Fatal passion
May. 27th, 2006 12:06 pmA well-known egg collector has fallen to his death trying to reach a nest.
I have very little sympathy for egg-collectors (having been brainwashed by Arthur Ransome at a tender age), but this is a sad story for a number of reasons, quite apart from the grief caused to his family. But it strikes me as a waste in a very broad sense - this is someone who obviously knew a massive amount about birds, and who seems to have been fascinated by the beauty of the eggs.* It wasn't just a matter of taking them for greed. But it led him to damage the very thing he loved, and ultimately destroy himself. I think that pretty much qualifies as tragedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1784224,00.html
*I could go off on a tangent about the significance of preferring, apparently, the egg to the live adult bird it would ultimately produce and its applicability as a metaphor for wider moral/ theological issues, but in the circumstances I won't.
I have very little sympathy for egg-collectors (having been brainwashed by Arthur Ransome at a tender age), but this is a sad story for a number of reasons, quite apart from the grief caused to his family. But it strikes me as a waste in a very broad sense - this is someone who obviously knew a massive amount about birds, and who seems to have been fascinated by the beauty of the eggs.* It wasn't just a matter of taking them for greed. But it led him to damage the very thing he loved, and ultimately destroy himself. I think that pretty much qualifies as tragedy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1784224,00.html
*I could go off on a tangent about the significance of preferring, apparently, the egg to the live adult bird it would ultimately produce and its applicability as a metaphor for wider moral/ theological issues, but in the circumstances I won't.
