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Rhinoceroses
Let me begin with a word in defense
of a splendid animal― the rhinoceros.
Rhinoceroses don't run in herds; they
are either solitary or move in small
groups. Typical herd animals are
buffalo; you've seen old photos of
them running on the American plains.
The German novelist Heinrich Böll, in
his Billiards at Half-past Nine,
describing roughly the same social
phenomenon, characterizes it as
"partaking of the buffalo sacrament."
Better. But I'm being silly: Ionesco
wasn't writing for the Discovery
Channel, he was engaging in theater, in
literature, in metaphor. And what
spectacular theater is achieved
through transforming humans into
rhinoceroses! I just wanted you to
know that real rhinos don't act that
way.