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<font size=3>At 10:20 AM 4/4/2007, you wrote:<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">On Apr 4, 2007, at 8:51 AM,
James B. Jordan wrote:<br><br>
> I've been away so much that I may have missed it, but have we
<br>
> discussed "Memorare" here yet?<br>
><br>
> Spoiler space<br>
><br>
><br>
> I was struck by the fact that Wolfe makes himself the
godplaying <br>
> dead man. It would be easy to have the statue be that of
"Richard <br>
> Nixon" or "Hitler" or someone else, but Wolfe takes
upon himself <br>
> the role of god-playing tyrant. He seems to be saying that he's
as <br>
> potentially evil as anyone else. Salvation is only by grace, as
the <br>
> prayers and title indicate.<br><br>
I wondered if anyone else would think the statue was of Wolfe.
Is <br>
the GW in Memorare the first head of Cerberus? That seems like
too <br>
much of a closed circle.<br><br>
Matthew</font></blockquote><br>
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. <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>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.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>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.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Just some
more observations.<br><br>
Nutria<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><font size=3>
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</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
James B. Jordan<br>
Director, Biblical Horizons<br>
Box 1096<br>
Niceville, FL 32588<br>
<a href="http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.biblicalhorizons.com</a></font></body>
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