(urth) Short Story 61*: Civus Laputus Sum

[Marc Aramini]

Could be the jealousy over the idea of one favored by God (athletically)
which results in murderously slaying your brother (there is a whole lot of
talk in the Queequeeg/Ishmael monkey rope chapter of the two as brothers,
and the two whale heads are both in the same predicament on the side of the
Pequod) ... so it becomes a situation where one brother who was disfavored
and slighted in his mind by God killing the favored ... Couldn't be a David
and Goliath situation, which was probably closer to 3000 years before.


On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Mo Holkar <lists at ukg.co.uk> wrote:

> At 19:33 29/04/2014, you wrote:
>
>> There is an odd statement Jeremy makes, saying his murder will be "the
>> first time in five thousand years one of us has taken the life of one of
>> them."  If taken literally, this really complicates the time line. More
>> likely he is just exaggerating the importance of their animosity. Is he
>> talking about Biblical creation?
>>
>
>
> In the Ussherian Biblical chronology, five thousand years prior to the
> 1990s (ie. 3000 BC) is some time prior to the Flood, among the uneventful
> list of patriarchs in Genesis 5. I had wondered if Jeremy was referring
> loosely to Cain and Abel: but that would be more like six thousand years.
> Also, hard to make that story match the theme of scholars vs athletes.
>
> (Of course, it may be a reference to a non-Christian myth.)
>
>
> On another note, I'd be interested if any Latinist can explain why it's
> 'Laputus' rather than 'Laputanus' in the title. It seems an unlikely slip,
> for Wolfe.
>
> best,
>
> Mo
>
>
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