The Lord's striking dead a number of hungry Israelites who have begun to eat some sun-dried quail — "The meat was still between their teeth, it had not yet been chewed, when the Lord's wrath flared against the people" — seems savage, as does the slaying of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the leaders of some grumblers.
While the penalty may seem savage to Western eyes, scholars say it is consistent with the values of Arabian society at the time of Muhammad, Islam's founding prophet.
And the prizemoney 'fines' do, I am afraid, seem savage for relatively minor offences.
But 50 years later, The Grapes of Wrath seems as savage as ever, and richer for my greater awareness of what Steinbeck did with the Oklahoma dialect and with his characters.
However I wonder what all of this -- including the life without parole (a potential possibility) -- says about us as a society, and as individuals who likely see ourselves as too busy to preoccupy ourselves with something that seems indubitably savage.
Although Dahl was known for archness, even cruelty — remember Violet Beauregarde, in Willy Wonka's factory, blowing up into a huge blueberry — the new book seemed unusually savage.
"What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine".
While the England team followed a path of high hopes that sank abruptly into dismay, Osborne's grim warnings of dire austerity prepared us for a bloodbath budget that, on the day, seemed less savage than many expected.
"What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine". " Everything seemed to be as merry as a marriage-bell", added Cadogan, as Stalin went on about the benefits of the Soviet system.
If this theme of "noble savage" seems a bit passé, know that you are in good hands with Ciro Guerra.
Although his father was a devout materialist, Savage seems to have spent much of his life searching for the right way to articulate his Jewish heritage.
