More on Peace

Jason Voegele wrote: <Whoa there! That's a BIG can of worms.> But so is every Wolfe book. <g> <We had quite a good discussion of PEACE early on in the list, so you should be able to get some good info from the archives.> Because my computer has only enough memory to let me view one volume of the archives before I have to reboot my computer (it's 12 years old), can you give me the specific volume? <For starters, it does appear the Weer is dead from the outset of the book> What is all this business about his stroke? One thing I find positively creepy is the absence of Weer's parents. They are only mentioned in the section relating his childhood, and then they are not actually present. It has occurred to me that they died and Olivia, because Weer was very young, just told them they were on vacation. This hypothesis fits in with the changing on the vacation from a planned one year to more than two years. However, I'm not sure if this is write. Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html ------------------------------------------------ "The darkest dreams are the ones that come true." -Warren Defever

It is as certain as anything can be in a Wolfe book that Weer is dead, a YADP (Yet Another Dead Protanganist - another useful term I offer to Wolfe scholars), both from internal evidence and because Wolfe has said so. It also seems pretty certain to me that he doesn't know he is dead or at least is almost completely unaware of his state; although he may be close to this realization at the very end of the book.

It is creepy but I am sure that are not dead since Weer refers more than once to his parents' return in the past tense. Because of the confusion of time in the book, this doesn't prove anything, of course. But I find the passage where Weer says words to the effect that his parents had finally returned but would forever remain strangers very convincing. Actually, I can't find it; I just skimmed the book for it but missed it. Maybe I'll reread Peace again to search it out. It is my favorite book by Wolfe and one of my favorite books, period. William Ansley

-----Original Message----- From: CRCulver at aol.com <CRCulver at aol.com> To: urth at lists.best.com <urth at lists.best.com> Date: Sunday, August 23, 1998 7:22 PM Subject: (urth) More on Peace |Jason Voegele wrote: |<Whoa there! That's a BIG can of worms.> | |But so is every Wolfe book. <g> True, so true. ;-) | | |<We had quite a good discussion of PEACE early on in the list, so you should |be able to get some good info from the archives.> | |Because my computer has only enough memory to let me view one volume of the |archives before I have to reboot my computer (it's 12 years old), can you give |me the specific volume? I feel pretty certain that it's volume one. Anyway, it was early on in the archives, so if volume one fails reboot and try, try again ;-) |<For starters, it does appear the Weer is dead from the outset of the book> | |What is all this business about his stroke? Perhaps this is how he originally died, and since he hasn't come to grips with this fact he is haunting Cassionsville. This sounds like some literary artistry, though, so mantis probably has a good modernist interpretation of this one. |One thing I find positively creepy is the absence of Weer's parents. They are |only mentioned in the section relating his childhood, and then they are not |actually present. It has occurred to me that they died and Olivia, because |Weer was very young, just told them they were on vacation. This hypothesis |fits in with the changing on the vacation from a planned one year to more than |two years. However, I'm not sure if this is write. This is odd, and odder that I've never considered it. Sometimes I get so caught up in the mysteries that a skeleton could jump up and dance in front of me and I'd never notice. Perhaps another reread is in order. Jason Voegele|