Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)

Friday, January 18, 2008

Bullet in My Breast Pocket

From the early standup of Woody Allen:

Years ago, my mother gave me a bullet...a bullet, and I put it in my breast pocket. Two years after that, I was walking down the street, when a berserk evangelist heaved a Gideon bible out a hotel room window, hitting me in the chest. Bible would have gone through my heart if it wasn't for the bullet.

For contemporary manifestations of the Bible/bullet scenario, see Cordell's previous post.

1 comment:

Dori Miller Parmenter said...

In An American Bible (Stanford University Press, 1999, p. 113), Paul Gutjar attributes this comedic anecdote to Mark Twain, without further citation.