Subject: (urth) Re: Kevin Malone

From: Tony Ellis <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 10:18:48 +0000

Roy wrote:

>  I just finished re-re-reading "Kevin Malone", from _Endangered_Species_.
>
A gem of a story, which I've often re-read purely for the pleasure of doing so.
And I have no intention of spoiling it for you or for anyone else, but here are a
couple of hints:

> What I would like to know is: who did what to whom, and why? Is KM a ghost,
> or just what he purports to be?
>
He's neither.

>     What relationship did the murder victim have to KM? Neither KM nor
> Priest actually refer to her as KM's mother. The incident is related in
> response to a query about KM going to an orphanage. And what are we to make
> of the narrator's parting hunch that both murderer and victim being named
> Malone may be coincidental? Answers anyone?
>
There -is- no relationship between Kevin and Betty Malone. Once you understand
that it all falls into place: Kevin Malone -thinks- Betty Malone and the elder Mr
Malone were married, -thinks- that he was their child in the lost Eden of the
house in its heyday. But if the names are just coincidental, and there -was- no
child, that cuts his whole fantasy off at the root. In which case, where -do- his
childhood memories of the big house come from? And the longing to recreate that
lost world which has driven his whole life?

Think about that, and think about the narrator wondering in the very last line of
the story, if it might be possible "for a man, even a very rich man, to be
posessed and not to know it."

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

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 02:01:59 +0000

>lost world which has driven his whole life?
    I hope these questions were not rhetorical. :-)  If there was no child,
then who is Kevin Malone? Where did (does) the money come from to buy and
maintain the estate? If any of the testimony of the narrative is to be
trusted, then a maid named Betty Malone was murdered and someone, who may or
may not have been the murderer, committed suicide in consequence thereof.
Why was she murdered, and by whom? What bearing does that have on Kevin, or
the current "young couple"?
    In this story, again, there are two Wolfe characters - the narrator and
Kevin - who are misogynists.
    And what about the "young couple"? Why does Marcella remain?
    As far as "spoilers" go, in the archives I believe it is stated that all
readers of this list are presumed to be familiar with the corpus of Wolfe's
work. Is that not so?

>posessed and not to know it."

    Possessed by whom or what? Spoil it for me, by private e-mail if you
wish.

Roy

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From: Peter Westlake <peter at harlequin.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 15:48:37 +0000

>posessed and not to know it."

I've read this story more than once, and had very little recollection of it.
This discussion prompted me to read it again, and it's as though I was reading
it for the first time. Everything is suddenly crystal clear - though I shall
check with Tony to see that I've got it right! If so, then I think it's quite
clear-cut, too, not like some other stories we've talked about here ...

Roy, Tony - thank you!

Peter.

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From: William H. Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 00:02:01 +0000

>clear-cut, too, not like some other stories we've talked about here ...

Boy, oh boy, do I feel stupid!

I have read "Kevin Malone" again, twice, with all these hints and I still
don't know who or what is possessing Kevin Malone.

Tony Ellis, please enlighten me, by private email, of course.

William Ansley

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From: Allan Lloyd <lloyd at sundial.kc3ltd.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 08:52:38 +0000

Hello, this is my first posting to the Urth list so be gentle with me. I
was tempted out of lurker status by the discussion of Kevin Malone. It
was entertaining to watch two
opposing views of the story being debated, but I couldn’t help feeling
that both had been  distracted by a typical Wolfeian red herring.
This story is to me one of Gene’s more obvious Christian parables. The
clues in the text
are almost too many to mention, the most blatant being the butler’s
name, Priest. The
house is compared to a Renaissance palace which should have a “red robed
cardinal
descending the steps.”
The “beautiful” couple’s first meal is lamb in aspic, the breakfast is
eggs Benedict. The garden is full of roses, and the first time we see
Kevin Malone, he is weeding the garden (removing plants that fail the
test?).
The couple are being tested for their suitability to join the ranks of
the family (of God), hence all of the servants who have already
undergone the test have the same name,
Malone.
After a summer of paradise, the strain in their relationship exposes
their lack of love, and they react in different ways. The wife offers
her body to the butler and is gently refused, but the narrator threatens
Priest with being thrown into the fire, a particularly Biblical bit of
violence, and thus fails the test, leading to his expulsion from the
garden.
When Kevin Malone appears he bursts through the window in a gust of
wind, with a
mention of spirits and ghosts. When telling his story he mentions being
brought up in a
room over a stable, and makes reference to “supper at a long table” not
being for him.
When he talks of the murder of Betty Malone he mentions bloody rags and
a hammer,
with all the links with the crucifixion, and although they don’t know
where she is buried, she is with them in the garden (resurrection).
I think that the talk who committed the murder is not relevant, there
are few clues in the text as to how or why she died, but the important
thing is that both she and her murderer have been forgiven(she for
having been a "tramp").
Kevin Malone himself is portrayed as a character with faults, especially
misogyny, but he has given up his wealth to serve others, as have the
other servants who have obviously been previously tested in the same way
as the current couple. (There are 24 of them, perhaps two sets of twelve
disciples.)
The wife sits at the feet of Malone, and symbolically dies when she
passes out at his feet. She is reborn with a hangover next day, and
joins the family, while the husband leaves the house and is last seen
searching for meaning but failing to find enlightenment.
The final sentence, with its repetition of the phrase “rich man” refers
to the parable 
concerning camels and eyes of needles, and seems to be saying that a
rich man can be
possessed by the spirit of God and earn himself a place in the Kingdom
of God by serving
others.
The final argument lies in the names. Malone is an old Irish name
meaning “follower of
Saint John”, so all the servants have the same name. Marcella is the
female form of Mark, another apostle, and Kevin means “beautiful one”.
I hope this makes some kind of sense, and is worthy of inclusion here.
Could I say that reading the archives has brought a wealth of new
meanings and appreciation for me to the works of Wolfe, and please keep
up the good work,
                      Allan Lloyd

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 19:20:35 +0000

Welcome, Allan Lloyd!

    As one of the "two opposing views" I feel obligated to respond, but I
hardly know where to begin. Someone said _I_ had "too many Malones"!  I
don't understand why you state that "all the servants have the same name".
The current servants certainly don't.
    You also seem to be mixing mythologies. On one hand you have Kevin in
the role of Yahweh in The Garden, then as a Christ-like figure. Not to
mention Betty in the role of Jesus with the crucifixion/resurrection
allusions.
    Nor do I see any evidence in the text to support the notion that
Marcella has suddenly "seen the light", so to speak, and found God. If a
hangover was the hallmark of salvation, then atheists the world over would
stop drinking! <g>
    Finally, the phrase "rich man" only occurs once in the last sentence, at
least in my edition.
    Don't be discouraged; only those who stick their necks out risk
decollation, and I was never even an apprentice in the Order of the Seekers
for Truth and Penitence.

    Say, you didn't happen to read the Gilligan's Island stuff in the
archives, did you? <G>

Roy