(urth) Memorare

[James B. Jordan]

At 10:20 AM 4/4/2007, you wrote:


>On Apr 4, 2007, at 8:51 AM, James B. Jordan wrote:
>
> > I've been away so much that I may have missed it, but have we
> > discussed "Memorare" here yet?
> >
> > Spoiler space
> >
> >
> > I was struck by the fact that Wolfe makes himself the godplaying
> > dead man. It would be easy to have the statue be that of "Richard
> > Nixon" or "Hitler" or someone else, but Wolfe takes upon himself
> > the role of god-playing tyrant. He seems to be saying that he's as
> > potentially evil as anyone else. Salvation is only by grace, as the
> > prayers and title indicate.
>
>I wondered if anyone else would think the statue was of Wolfe.  Is
>the GW in Memorare the first head of Cerberus?  That seems like too
>much of a closed circle.
>
>Matthew

I guess one would put the Wolfe identification into the category of a 
mcguffin (?), something we don't have to know to get the story. But 
the statue looks just like Wolfe, and Wolfe has appeared in other 
stories by describing himself. Also, the main character (I don't have 
the story before me) says that identifying the dead man will be 
difficult for him -- being a character, how can he identify the 
author? I have not yet reread the story to see if there be other clues.
         Setting aside the Wolfe identification, I think we can see 
that the "heaven" that turns out to be fake and deadly is a symbol 
for socialism, fascism, and all the other anti-liberty things that 
Wolfe is against. One is told that everything is fine, and one keeps 
believing everything is fine, but the reality is that things are not 
fine at all. It is all one man, one dictator, controlling it all, 
including controlling the mind. The comments in the story about 
America no longer being a free country fit with this theme.
         Freedom as Wolfe's large thematic interest is, in this 
story, linked with being realistic about life. Not living in a 
fantasy world (!). And it would seem that prayer and grace are ways 
of becoming realistic and being disabused of fantasy and fakery.
         Just some more observations.

Nutria


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James B. Jordan
Director, Biblical Horizons
Box 1096
Niceville, FL 32588
http://www.biblicalhorizons.com 
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