Subject: (urth) Peace of Mind

From: Alex David Groce <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 17:33:57 +0000

interpretation of "Peace".  This IS Weer's life as it was lived (or, perhaps,
as he tells it to himself, which may be subtly different than the real thing).
 The tacking of memos onto the board, the nailing down of the final memos, is
Weer's exploration of his past.
	In summary (roughly).  The fall of Eleanor Bold's elm wakes Weer's
restless soul, and begins a process of telling its own story.  The
Necronomicon, "the book that binds the dead," is appropriate, in that it is by
binding his life into a story that Weer comes to terms with his painful
(although not, in my opinion, murderou, other than Bobby) and solitary life.
 He also binds himself to the others who helped to create this story, binding
the other dead to himself (we can assume that all are dead, given the time it
would take for the elm to grow and topple).  In fact, the spin given to ghostly
life here reminds me of T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"--"the end of all our
exploration will be to arrive at the place that we started from, and to know it
for the very first time".  Only after death can Weer "know" his life.
  Ironically, the purpose of the binding is to set Weer free, to no longer
haunt his house or his skull, but to the an only hinted at something else
(which I think is what the Chinese head-rest at the end indicates, a "popping"
of a layer of reality, a joining of the other "purged" dead--his Aunt is
calling him, after all.)
	It seems to me that the placing of the memos on the board (I don't have
the book with me at the moment to point out specifics) indicates that a certain
memory (the order being holographic, not chronological) has been dealt with.
 The story of the Sidhe suggests that this "unnatural" extension of Weer's self
is about to be replaced by a true immortality (true/false immortalities are a
favorite theme of Wolfe's).  He has outlived his time in his skull, on Earth,
and now comes a baptism of Father, Son and Holy Ghost to give him Peace.
"'. . . The time of the sidhe is long past, and the time of geese is passing.
 And in time men, too, will pass, as every man who lives long learns in his own
body. But Jesus Christ saves all.'"
	Actually, this line has always given me the haunting image of that elm
falling over Weer's grave not just fifty years later, but perhaps even after
(for whatever reason) men no longer live...

-- 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: William H. Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 23:33:31 +0000

>(for whatever reason) men no longer live...

I am rereading _Peace_ again and taking notes. (Man oh man, does that ever
slow me down and make what is normally a pleasure into a chore. I don't
know how any of you scholarly types out there can do it day in and day out.)

But the up side is that I can say very quickly that if you turn to page 53,
paragraphs 6 through 10, in the Orb edition of _Peace_, you will find
Olivia Weer explaining to Professor Peacock why humanity will no longer
exist in "thousands and thousands of years" (this is on the way to the
cave). Admittedly, this is too long to be the life of an elm, but still it
ties in with what Alex David Groce says above.

William Ansley

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1998 09:33:18 +0000

On Tue, 25 Aug 1998, Alex David Groce wrote:

> 	I still find the "Purgatorio" hypothesis to fit best with my
[...]
> (although not, in my opinion, murderou, other than Bobby) and solitary life.
[...]
> Only after death can Weer "know" his life.
[...]
> body. But Jesus Christ saves all.'"

While I must admit that I'm still enamored of my own "it's a Chinese
pillow dream of a possible life" theory, I have to admit that your
interpretation works pretty well, is satisfying, and strikes me as
possibly closer to Wolfe's intent.  It also has the virtue of not
undermining the reality of all the other fascinating characters in Weer's
past. 

One thing about the dream idea, is that it bears some similarity to the
idea we've been discussing in tBotNS of there being several Severians
living his life over and over until he gets it right (an idea much more
Eastern than Christian).  Except I don't think Weer is going to literally
relive his life, it's more like Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Future. 

> (for whatever reason) men no longer live...

Now you've haunted me too.  

-Rostrum