{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1353", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 1353, "subject": "The Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz, part 2", "messages": 1, "voices": 1, "first": "1999-02-01T00:02:10+00:00", "last": "1999-02-01T00:02:10+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William H. Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "1999-02-01T00:02:10+00:00", "subject": "(urth) The Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz, part 2", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This is the second of my postings about Oz references in Gene Wolfe's story\n\"The Eyeflash Miracles.\" Although I don't really think it is necessary to\nwarn about Wolfe spoilers in postings on this list, I will warn everyone\nthat there will be some *Oz* spoilers in this message and those that follow.\n\nIn my previous posting I said:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I don't intend on doing a detailed summary of the whole plot of \"The\nEyeflash Miracles\" because it would take too long; I am going to\nconcentrate on the parts with Oz references." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "But I am also going to single out the places in the text where miracles\nseem to occur. The miracles often, but not always, seem to be linked with\nOz references.\n\nGeorge Tibbs, usually referred to as Little Tib in the story (his father is\nBig Tib), is a homeless blind boy living in a (probably[3]) future version\nof the United States where everyone is identified by their retinal\npatterns. Since Little Tib's retinas were destroyed he has no official\nidentity or existence and he has completely fallen through the cracks in\nthe system.\n\nAt the beginning of the story he meets two homeless men, Mr. Parker, a\nwhite man who is a former school superintendent, and Nitty, a black man who\nwas a custodian at the same school[4]. They are both hoboes, travelling the\ncountry on freight trains and by hitch hiking. They lost their jobs when\nthe school where they worked became totally automated. Mr. Parker has\noccasional delusions that he is still a school superintendent and outbreaks\nof violent temper so Nitty has taken it upon himself to follow Mr. Parker\naround and take care of him. Mr. Parker has a plan to get Nitty and himself\ntheir old jobs back; it involves reprogramming the computer at the school\nwhere they used to work.\n\nLittle Tib meets them while he is walking along a set of train tracks.\nNitty and Mr. Parker befriend Little Tib. Mr. Parker says he will be able\nto help Little Tib when he carries out his plan and is in a position of\nauthority again. That night Little Tib stays with Nitty and Mr. Parker and\nhas two dreams. We learn that Little Tib can see while he is dreaming. The\nfirst seems to rehash events from his earlier life in a distorted way,\nprobably the events which resulted in his blindness.\n\nThe second dream contains the first Oz references. It starts out with\nLittle Tib walking through a field of sunflowers which can see him and turn\nto look at him. When he is not looking at them, they whirl around and\naround. This is a distorted but recognizable reference to a scene in the\ntwelth chapter of _The Marvelous Land of Oz_, entitled \"Mr. H. M.\nWoggle-Bug, T. E.\" Here, the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and Tip (of whom\nmore later) are trying to get back to the Emerald City and are blocked by\nan enchantment that makes them see a field of sunflowers. These sunflowers\nwhirl when they look at them and dazzle their vision and mystify them so\nthey don't know which way to go. When the Tin Woodmen tries to cut them\ndown, they stop spinning and a girl's face appears at the center of each.\nThe Woodman is too tender hearted to try to cut the flowers down after\nthis, but they finally realize that the flowers are an illusion and by\nshutting their eyes they are able to pass beyond the field.\n\nIn the next part of Little Tib's dream a city floats down like a cloud and\nsettles on the ground in front of him. I think there may be floating cities\nin later Oz books[5] beyond the six I have re-read, but I am not sure.\nHowever, the description of the city is definitely that of the Emerald City\nas it appears in the movie _The Wizard of Oz_. The Emerald City was never a\nfloating city in any Oz book as far as I can recall.\n\nNext Little Tib appears before the gates of the city which again are as in\nthe movie with a window in them and a gate keeper (Little Tib calls him a\ngate-man) who looks through it. When Little Tib says he wants to see the\nking, the gate-man reaches through the window and pulls him through. One\ninside the gates, the gate-man hands Little Tib a pair of toy glasses and\ntells him he must wear them. But when Little Tib puts them on they turn\ninto lines drawn on his face, two circles around his eyes connected by a\nline across his nose. Little Tib can see this because the gate-man shows\nhim his face in a mirror.\n\nThis bit is taken from the book _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ and others.\nWhenever anyone is allowed into the Emerald City he is made to put on a\npair of spectacles with green-tinted lenses which lock so they cannot be\ntaken off. This is by order of the Wizard of Oz. The reason given is that\nthe dazzling array of emeralds and other gems that are embedded in the\nwalls and sidewalks of the Emerald City will blind anyone who's eyes are\nnot protected. The real reason is that the Wizard decided that it would be\nmore impressive if *everything* in the Emerald City looked green. By making\neveryone where these tinted spectacles, he achieves this aim[6]. Why Little\nTib's toy glasses become lines on his face, I have no idea.\n\nThen Little Tib is walking through the city. The houses have sideways\ngardens on their walls. I am sure this is described in a book late in the\nseries, but I can't remember which. It is definitely not in the first six.\n\nLittle Tib comes to the palace. It has walls of \"trees holding hands\", a\n\"gate of bowing elephants\" and a long stairway that seems to extend into\nthe clouds. I don't remember any of this being in any Oz book. Little Tib\nexplains the stairway by recalling that the whole city was originally in\nthe clouds. Down the stairway is coming the king. \"She was a beautiful\nwoman, and although she did not look at all like her, Little Tib knew that\nshe was his mother.\"[7] This is Ozma, the ruler of Oz. Aside from the\nconfusion inherent in dreams, there is a reason why Little Tib may refer to\nher as a king which I will get to before I am done.\n\nThat was the end of Little Tib's dream and the end of this posting. This is\nthe pattern of the Oz references in this story. They are often distorted\nand mixed with other things. Wolfe combines Oz references with other\nreferences whenever he can. But I think all the references I mention are\ntoo strong to be dismissed as coincidence and some of the later ones are\ninarguable. If you feel that it will be much too tedious to continue with\nme on this journey through Oz references in _The Eyeflash Miracles_, I\ndon't blame you.\n\nWilliam Ansley\n\n[3] I don't have any reason to think otherwise, but with Wolfe, you never know.\n[4] I mention their race even though it isn't terribly important to the\nstory because one of the things Wolfe seems to be doing in \"The Eyeflash\nMiracles\" is commenting on race relations.\n[5] There were well over two dozen Oz books written altogether, the\nmajority by people other than Baum (although authorized by him or his\nestate). The most prolific of these other authors was Ruth Plumly Thompson.\nI read at least 20 of the Oz long ago, from a set owned by my mother.\n[6] Baum is very inconsistent about color in the Oz books. In later books,\neverything in the Emerald City really is green.\n[7] Shades of Silk's vision in mainframe in _The Book of the Long Sun_." } ] } ] }