{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2194", "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": 2194, "subject": "Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "messages": 4, "voices": 4, "first": "2000-04-16T23:04:32+00:00", "last": "2000-04-24T08:40:02+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Michael Straight", "address": "straight at email.unc.edu" }, "date": "2000-04-16T23:04:32+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I finally got a copy of this book and will probably be posting about some\nof the stories over the next few days.\n\nAre the quotations in this story from an existing Sci-Fi Pulp, or did\nWolfe invent them? They seem exactly like what I know of H.G. Wells's\n\"Island of Doctor Moreau\" is about, although I've never read it. I wonder\nif naming the hero Ransom was a nod to Lewis's Space Trilogy.\n\nI gather that Dr. Black was giving her drugs, not really trying to help\nthe boy's mother, but gave that story when the police arrived. He says\nshe was on amphetamines, which are pills, not injections, but she had all\nthose needle tracks and he was giving her another injection when the boy\nfound them.\n\nBut what does Dr. Death mean when he says, \"But if you start the book\nagain we'll all be back...You're too young to realize it yet, but it's the\nsame with you\"?\n\nIt seems like it could be some kind of religious reference to the\nresurrection or something, but that doesn't seem to be the kind of insight\nWolfe would believe comes with age. Or maybe he's saying that we keep\nfighting the same battles over and over again as we age?\n\nI don't get it. Anyone have better ideas?\n\n-Rostrum" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "2000-04-17T00:36:52+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Rostrum (Michael Straight ) wrote:\nI finally got a copy of this book and will probably be posting about some\nof the stories over the next few days." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Good, I will be interested to hear what you have to say. This is one \nof my favorite Wolfe anthologies, in part because it contains \"The \nEyeflash Miracles,\" about which I wrote a long series of posts which \nare the closest thing I have to a claim to fame in this list (aside \nfrom a tendency to be cranky)." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Are the quotations in this story from an existing Sci-Fi Pulp, or did\nWolfe invent them? They seem exactly like what I know of H.G. Wells's\n\"Island of Doctor Moreau\" is about, although I've never read it. I wonder\nif naming the hero Ransom was a nod to Lewis's Space Trilogy." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I am sure that Wolfe made them up. The similarity to _The Island of \nDoctor Moreau_ is (IMO) deliberate and serves to indicate that this \nis derivative \"hack\" sf. (I have read _Moreau_ and the similarity is \nnot as great as you may think; certainly there is no ancient Lemurian \ncivilization in Wells' book.)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I gather that Dr. Black was giving her drugs, not really trying to help\nthe boy's mother, but gave that story when the police arrived. He says\nshe was on amphetamines, which are pills, not injections, but she had all\nthose needle tracks and he was giving her another injection when the boy\nfound them." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "My impression is that Dr. Black *was* trying to help Tackman's \nmother. I think she got her drugs from other sources, sources which \nincluded Jason (her toy boy lover). She passed out at the party, \nprobably because of mixing alcohol with some other drug and Dr. Black \nwas trying to revive her. I don't know why Doctor Death wanted to \nshow Tackman his mother getting an injection. I also don't know if he \nmeant it to result in benefit or harm for Tackman." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "But what does Dr. Death mean when he says, \"But if you start the book\nagain we'll all be back...You're too young to realize it yet, but it's the\nsame with you\"?\n\nIt seems like it could be some kind of religious reference to the\nresurrection or something, but that doesn't seem to be the kind of insight\nWolfe would believe comes with age. Or maybe he's saying that we keep\nfighting the same battles over and over again as we age?\n\nI don't get it. Anyone have better ideas?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I don't get it either. My only though is that Tackman Babcock is a \ncharacter in a book, just like Doctor Death (well, not \"Just like\"; \nDoctor Death is a character in a book in a book). But why getting \nolder will make him realize that he is in a book, I have no idea.\n\nWilliam Ansley" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "2000-04-17T16:39:36+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Some exegesis of this story, grist for your mills:\n\n1. The island is almost an island, but not quite, and is not really on the\nmap. Thus, it is like the island in the pseudo-novel.\n\n2. The House of 31 February is not quite on the calendar. There's no such\ndate, but some months do have 31 days, so it's \"almost but not quite\" on\nthe calendar. Calendar -- time -- is a clear theme: The aunts are named May\nand Julie (July). It's winter. The year is about to \"start all over again.\"\nSee No. 21 below.\n\n3. The book's cover shows Ransom struggling and apparently defeating an\napeman. This anticipates the narrative in the semi-real world. Also, surely\nRansom is a nod to Lewis, and to Jesus. Compare Ransom's wrestling with the\nMorlockian Un-Man in *Perelandra.* Also remember that humanity made itself\nbestial by listening to a serpent at the beginning of time.\n\n4. TACK MAN BAB COCK seems significant. I don't know about \"tack\", but\nMan-Bab would be man-baby, and cock would be the wake-up call. The boy\ngrows up a bit in the story, receiving a wakeup call from cold reality. For\nmore on the name, see 24 below.\n\n5. A trip to the drugstore with Jason also anticipates later events, Jason\nas providing drugs for Mom. But the drugstore also provides the book, which\nI shall argue stands for the Bible. One can get either good or bad from\nthis place. (If we read the story negatively, which I don't think would be\nright, the novel is a drug and Tackman is being drugged by it.) Notice also\nby way of anticipation the armed policeman (compare the knights and the\npolice later on) and the fearful dog (compare Bruno later on). Lots of\nnarrative foreshadowing here. \n\n6. I note a SHEEP-skin coat on p. 14. Tackman is protected from the weather\nby this. Wearing it, he meets Jesus (Captain Ransom). Ransom is taller than\nTackman, but shaking Ransom-Jesus' hands makes Tackman feel taller and\nolder. Dr. Death does not have this effect on Tackman. That by itself is\ninteresting, since the atheistic brand of existentialism (Heidegger;\nSartre) would say that it is reflection on death that makes us become real\nmen. Is Wolfe attacking this notion, and saying that encountering Jesus is\nthe real way to grow up?\n\n7. The semi-real life Dr. Death would seem to be Dr. Black. Death smokes\ncigarettes; Black smokes cigars. \n\n8. Death and Ransom are wrestlers who put on a show, but only under the\nspotlight, according to Death. How do we take this? Wolfe's belief is that\ndeath is God's servant, and that Satan is also, though an unwilling one. We\nknow full well from the Bible (as Wolfe would say) that the last enemy\nJesus will defeat is death, so Tackman is right that Ransom will kill\nDeath. But for now, they wrestle. That \"wrestling under the spotlight\" is\nhow God has organized history, as a way of redeeming fallen humanity, for\nGod did not immediately destroy death; it will happen only at the end. \n\n9. Here's as good a place as any to note that we are told in detail every\nmorsel of food Tackman eats. Is this one of Wolfe's \"sacramental\" hints?\n\n9a. (I don't want to renumber all these, so I'll insert this). The \"bad\"\npeople convey Tackman by automobiles, but Ransom arrives on a boat. Compare\nthe boat as the Church (built, like Noah's Ark, with a \"nave\"). \n\n10. My guess is that within the pulp novel, as used by Wolfe, Talar figures\nthe Church, the enemy of Dr. Death, who is being corrupted by him. Ransom\nmust rescue her. She corresponds to Mom-Barbara, rescued by Tackman at the\nend. \n\n11. The fact that Bruno, the SAINT Bernard, does not like Talar, only\nindicates that she is in need of ransoming. She has fought Death in the\npast, but she herself is not yet \"on the side of the angels.\" She is like\nthe not-yet-redeemed Church, and also like Mom -- beautiful Mom, who needs\nsalvation.\n\n12. Again, within the layered \"use\" of this pseudo-novel by Wolfe, Bruno\nwould seem to be the pastors of the Church. There was more than one St.\nBruno during the Middle Ages. As St. Bernard dogs rescue travellers, so\nBruno rescues Ransom. It is the job of saints to \"rescue\" Christ (His\nwitness) in times of forgetfulness.\n\n13. Tackman reads this book as one might read the Bible. It forms his\nguide. Also, it puts it away \"reverently\" (p. 20). (All my pagination is\nfrom the current edition, btw.) IMO, this is a major key to the story. As\nTackman reads the book, it comes alive for him, so that Bruno comes to\ncomfort him in the middle of the night, the was a saint might come to visit\na Catholic. (See 22 below on Bruno as talking animal on Christmas Eve.) Not\nmentioned but clear to the reader is Tackman's nervous tension as he\nanticipates his mother's wedding to Dr. Black. That's why he doesn't sleep,\nand needs comfort.\n\n14. Talar's people are \"of old\" and have become twisted in form. Ransom has\nbeen brought to make them new? Compare beautiful Mom and her more twisted\nsisters -- all \"old\" to Tackman.\n\n15. The word \"hypocrisy\" means \"masked.\" I think the masks at the wedding\nrelate to this. These people are somehow fakes. They have hidden agendas. \n\n16. Jason is dressed as a pirate with a whip. Probably the Jason of Greek\nmyth is alluded to. Jason had numerous affairs. Mom is Barbara, not Medea.\nWere any of Jason's women non-Greek \"barbarians\"? Is there an allusion here\nto anything specific? Jason as Heroic Playboy of myth does seem to fit the\nstory, not least as a foil for Ransom, the real hero. In the pseudo-novel,\nJason is Bolo. In \"real life,\" Jason does not seem to be a servant of Dr.\nBlack, but both are supplying drugs to Mom. \n\n17. At the party, Ransom is dressed in rags, but they are clean and\nstarched. Again, a decent enough picture of Jesus, and a humble contrast to\nall the finery of the masked hypocrites.\n\n18. The men dressed in armor (knights) are from the City (Jerusalem? the\nChurch's pastors?) and are there to watch over Talar (church). Dr. Death\ndoes not want Tackman to meet them. Instead, he shows Tackman the reality\nof his mother's plight. Thus, he serves a good end. We can plug in a more\npositive assessment of Heidegger and Sartre here, but only if death drives\nus to become \"taller\" as a result of meeting Captain Ransom.\n\n19. At the end of the pseudo-novel, Death is killed and Ransom departs and\nleaves Talar. Well, that's the New Testament narrative, right down to\nJesus' departure, leaving the Church behind, delivered. \n\n20. If you start the book over, re-read the bible, you can read the story\nagain. \n\n20a. The bull-man also. Is this an allusion to the sin at the golden calf?\nMore generally to man's hearkening to the voice of a serpent (animal) and\nbecoming like an animal? Recall that the bull-man of sinful Judaism is\nslain when Dr. Death's house is destroyed, and so (we may assume) is Bolo,\nthe sinful Gentiles (compare Jason). \n\n21. The last lines: essentially, \"You'll be back. You're too young to\nrealize it....\" My guess is that this typically Wolfean cryptic ending\nmeans that as we re-read the Book of Books, we see ourselves therein. Also,\ngiven Catholicism, the Church Year recapitulates the history of redemption,\nand as one moves through it, this is like re-reading the Book. Thus the\ncalendar theme. The House of February 31 takes us off the (church)\ncalendar, but the story restores Tackman to it, in a sense, as he moves to\nthe mainland and into real time, real space.\n\n22. When does this take place? Well, it's winter. There's a party, which\nmight have been a wedding party. Christmas? It would be very Wolfean if it\nwere. If \"animals can talk on Christmas Eve,\" well then Bruno (in a vision)\nspeaks to Tackman the night before the wedding feast. Of course, this story\npredates the later Christmas Eve story by almost 30 years, so Wolfe might\nnot have been thinking of that legend. Yet it does fit. \n\n23. Other notes: Ransom goes to Talar's village to get help in defeating\nDr. Death. Tackman runs to a neighboring house, where a lady lives, to get\nhelp to save his mother. \n\n24. The cops are sure that Dr. Black has only been giving Barbara helpful\ninjections, but she has needle marks all over her arms. And the\namphetamines are taken orally (right), and we assume Jason has supplied\nthem. Both want Barbara, but Tackman (strengthened -- made taller -- by\nRansom) saves her. Thus, Barbara is like Talar, and Tackman like Ransom.\nRansom tacked his way across the sea, so perhaps this explains the first\npart of Tackman's name. As a cock, Tackman sounded the warning that brought\nthe police. \n\nI don't submit this as definitive, but as a first stab. Anyone have any\nresponses?\n\nNutria" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jeremy Crampton", "address": "jcrampto at osf1.gmu.edu" }, "date": "2000-04-24T08:40:02+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: Jim Jordan " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "interesting, since the atheistic brand of existentialism (Heidegger;\nSartre) would say that it is reflection on death that makes us become real\nmen." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I wonder if you could define what you mean by \"atheistic existentialism\"\nand how that includes the work of Heidegger.\n\nThanks,\n__\nJeremy W. Crampton\t\t http://geog.gmu.edu jcrampto at gmu.edu\nDept. of Geography & Earth Science\n[MS 1E2]\t\t\t\t’Tis true; there’s magic in the web of it.\nGeorge Mason University\t\t\t\t\t--Othello (III.iv.69)\nFairfax, Va 22030" } ] } ] }