Subject: (urth) Death's Sentence

From: Tony Ellis <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 15:13:00 +0000

Rostrum wrote:

> But then Dr. Death's statement makes no sense.  No matter how many times
> we read the story, Tackman will never be a minute older than he was at the
> end of Death's sentence (heh, accidental double entendre there).
>
<g> but...
...you're assuming Tackman has no life outside the story on the page.
I'm not sure that GW does. As I've said, this is a story about stories:
Wolfe's written a few of those, and most of them include the idea that,
at some level, stories have a life of their own.

Personally I don't see how Dr. Death's statement makes any sense
-except- the way I've always interpreted it. Apart from anything else,
it's the custom to end short stories with something of a twist or a
shock - which we get by this sudden shift in perspective. All this time
we've been treating poor Tackman as "real" in the sense in which we see
all fictional protagonists as real, temporarily suspending our
disbelief. Now we realise that he's ultimately no more "real" than the
characters in the pulp novel.

I suspect that this is the significance of Tackman writing his name in
the sand at the start of the story, too.

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

---

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2000 23:22:40 +0000

Here's my take on the meaning of Dr. Death's closing words.  Just as
Ransom will temporarily destroy Dr. Death and escape the island, but
will relive his ordeal every time Tackman rereads the story, so
Tackman's escape at the end of the story from his damaging home life is
only temporary.  When his mother recovers, he will be sent back to her
and she will continue neglecting him and exposing him to her lovers and
her drug-filled parties.

I don't deny that there are overtones of Tackman's fictionality, but I
don't think that's the primary meaning.

--Adam