history why must you be so intriguing

[rinue]

Ciro says Gaugin is maybe the one who cut off Van Gogh's ear, and not Van Gogh, and I believe him because I hate Gaugin.

Meanwhile:

3692 / 50000 words. 7% done!

Yes. Let us all feel glorious about 350 or so words in six days, which works out to a little more than my 50-word-a-day natural pattern with this thing. I introduced two whole new characters and everything, and one of them I just made up.

Comments

"You hit in me in the ear?! No, that's perfect!"

[liquidmorpheme.livejournal.com]

The thing is, the self-mutilation story also started as rumor (although he did actually lay the dismembered ear at the doorstep of the woman he fancied). All we actually know about the night in question is that Gaugin, an aggressive and violent man prone to drinking, got into a horrible fight with his friend the pacifist. They separated that night, never spoke to each other again, and neither one ever spoke of or wrote (to scholarly satisfaction) who cut off the ear. Van Gogh later convalesced for mental illness, so everyone assumed he was crazy and did it to himself.

Objectively, though? Equally likely that Gaugin cut off the ear.

Ahem.
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Ciro