Satanic Portrayals

[readingredhead]

So, instead of eating my dinner or doing any one of the numerous homework assignments that are bound to crush me to a pulp between now and Thursday, I have been accosted by a short story. I am actually rather pleased by this -- I have been waiting for this particular story to make itself work for me ever since reading the Book of Job (yeah, the one from the bible) last semester for my biblical poetry class. And as a result, I'm writing a short story about Satan. Or rather, "the Satan" (long story that will get outlined elsewhere). It's set in the modern world, and thus far opens with the following line:

"The Satan had known coming into this job that it had a high turnover rate, but leaning back in his leather swivel chair and observing the view out the window of his 66th story corner office, he really didn’t understand why."

(For the record, this is currently the ONLY sentence. But the ideas are still in the process of accosting, so I figure I'll give it some time.)

What I require from you, dear readers, is further inspiration. I know I have my own personal favorite portrayals of Satan or the Devil in literature, from Satan in Paradise Lost to the Lone Power in Diane Duane's Young Wizards books, but I want to play around with figurations of the character of the devil and what his work actually entails. What does your favorite interpretation of the devil look or act like? What are some interesting names for the Devil, or for evil figures in general? (I'm looking for everything from Pluto to Prince of Darkness.) What can I do to make this awesome?

...yeah. Well. Now I should maybe go eat that dinner and work on that paper and problem sets and chapters worth of reading that are all due within the next two days. That seems like an intelligent idea.

Comments

[wax-wane.livejournal.com]

dude, picciotto is inspiring. she made everything make SENSE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGR4SFOimlk
it probably won't help, but it's funny and campy and, well, it's al pacino!

AND: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Picciotto

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

The best part of that Al Pacino clip (aside from Al Pacino) was hearing Keanu Reeves quote Paradise Lost -- that is where the "Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven" line is from, right?

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

And I just looked this up on imdb, and apparently the character played by Al Pacino is named John Milton?? Now I really need to see this.

[gienahclarette.livejournal.com]

Genre-savvy villains = win.

I personally think impeccable pinstripe suit. Classiness.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of Diane Duane, I think of Satan as very impeccable in his personal dress. Basically my Satan in this story looks like the Lone Power as he appears in So You Want to Be a Wizard:

"The man who sat at the desk in the elegant office had his back to it and was staring out the window into the darkness. His warty secretary handed him the phone. A businessman, young, maybe thirty, and very handsome -- red-gold hair and a clean-lined face above a trim, dark three-piece suit. This was the Witherer, the Kindler of Wildfires, the one who decreed darkness, the Starsnuffer?"

Even my Satan's Manhattan office is an homage to the one owned by this version of the Lone One. Does that make me a geek? Undeniably. Does that make me happy? Even more undeniably. :)

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

Read The Book of Joby! Read The Book of Joby! Read the Book of Joby!

Actually wait. Write your story first. THEN read it. :)

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

And also, as for devilishness- I don't think he necessarily needs or wants to absolutely crush and destroy people, or to turn them to evil. I think all he really wants are a bunch of lazy people who could care less, because really, what threat are a bunch of ambivalent people to evil?

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

GAH! I meant couldn't. Not could.

[transientrain.livejournal.com]

AMAZING idea, my love! This is fantastic! To quote William Goldman, "it was so brilliant, I wish I had come up with it."

In my book, though rarely mentioned, Satan is a retired football coach who vacations frequently in Hawaii and wears tacky shirts. He's not actually bad, and is kind of God's scape goat and/or younger brother.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I was definitely thinking of your book when thinking of entertaining ways to figure deities/etc. This Satan isn't actually meant to be bad, either; his real purpose is to test the righteous so that God can determine their belief levels. In this world, I don't quite know that you would call God "good," though...it's interesting, I'm still playing with it.

Also, amusingly enough, my God (who I think is known mostly as "the Boss") spends a decent amount of his time on tropical islands and conducts most of his business via teleconference. :)

[eristocracy.livejournal.com]

The idea of God having a younger brother makes the philosopher in me cringe, and that's probably why people get fed up with me. I won't try to claim that there's a theologian in me.