"...to recognize in the notion of the Wild Man (or woman) an instrument of cultural projection that is as anomalous in conception as it is vicious in application."
"The countryside is still the place of blessings; the wilderness stands at the opposite side of being as the place where God's destructive power manifests itself most dramatically. This is why wilderness can appear in the very heart of a human being, as insanity, sin, will -- any condition that reflects a falling away of man from God."
"Babel, or Babylon. A confusion of tongues, a pollution of the species."
"Cursedness, or wildness, is identified with the wandering life of the hunter (as against the stable life of the shepherd and farmer) the desert (which is the Wild Man's habitat), linguistic confusion (which is the Wild Man's as well as the barbarian's principal attribute), sin and physical abberation in both color (blackness) and size."
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from "Tropics of Discourse, Essays in Cultural Criticism", Hayden White
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