And the Ass Saw the Angel: Nick Cave

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And the Ass Saw the Angel tells the story of Euchrid Eucrow, a mute born to an abusive drunken mother and a father obsessed with animal torture and the building of dangerous traps. The family live in a valley of fanatically religious Ukulites, where they are shunned. Euchrid's mental breakdown includes horrific angelic visions, and the story builds towards Euchrid exacting terrible vengeance on the people who have made him suffer. And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:Signature Style: The novel covers many of Cave’s musical inspirations, like flowers, stomach-churning violence, discussion of literature (often in very unlikely places), and semi-heretical yet extremely pious examinations of religion. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. The title comes from the Bible, the Book of Numbers 22:23, where Balaam does not see the angel of the Lord but his donkey does. The Bible is heavily referenced throughout the novel. In an interview with BOMB magazine, Cave noted, “There are a number of voices in the book: first person narrative by Euchrid, third person authorial voice, quotations usually from the Bible, either real or ersatz, constant changes in tone or approach to language, depending on who is talking. When I first started the book there were certain elements I wasn’t interested in reading about. When you read a novel, you have to wade through the setting up of the scene before the story starts. So I wrote a long prologue. It has no action. It includes documentary, poetry, maps and charts, in very short chapters. Once this is done, the actual story begins. The voice then changes between the narrator’s truth and Euchrid’s delusionary truth. The final book is Euchrid’s monologue which runs to the climax” [4] The book is narrated in the protagonist's silent Southern drawl, which Cave writes in eye dialect. In 2009 Cave released a cut-down version of his novel but this reissue restores the full uncut text, as first published in 1989.

And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. An explosion of linguistic brio and Gothic grotesquery, horrifying, funny and tragic' Michel Faber, Guardian Book Genre: Australia, Contemporary, Cultural, Dark, Fiction, Gothic, Horror, Literature, Music, Novels, Southern Gothic And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? and he said, Nay.But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. Adaptation Expansion: The novel started life as The Birthday Party’s song “Swampland”, which depicted the protagonist’s death.