Subject: (urth) Re: The Barnables

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 22:40:05 +0000

Michael Andre-Driussi wrote:

> The full name on that page is "Evan S. Barnable": remind me, was his dad
> named Evan?  Do we have evidence that his dad called him Smoky, and that
> Smoky is what the "S" stands for; or is Smoky just his hippie handle?

I haven't reread the whole book in a long time, but the only evidence
bearing on these questions I can find offhand is in the section dealing
with Smoky's childhood: Smoky "lived a lot in three different suburbs
with the same name in three different cities, and in each his relatives
called him by a different name--his own, his father's, and Smoky--which
last so suited his evanescence that he kept it." ("Anonymity," I, 1, p.
6 in Bantam TPB.)  Which seems to mean that Smoky's father was not
called Evan (since his name was "different"), and suggests that Smoky
was first addressed as  Smoky by his relatives and not by his father,
though Smoky may still be his middle name.

> (When I think of his family I just remember his five uncles

Actually, they were Smoky's half-brothers and sisters.

> and the way he
> and his dad would move from one uncle's house to the other . . . states
> beginning with the letter I, that whole thing.)

There is more information on Smoky's family and childhood, but very
little; which is kind of peculiar, come to think of it, given the amount
we're told about the Drinkwaters.  This would seem to argue against the
view that sees Smoky as the positive pole of the book and the
Drinkwaters as the negative pole.  The Drinkwaters are important in
themselves; Smoky is only important in relation to the Drinkwaters,
poignant though his story is.  (It's late at night, though, so I may be
all wrong about this.)

--Adam

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

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 22:24:20 +0000

>though Smoky may still be his middle name.

I re-read the whole book recently and rather carefully and so feel 
fairly confident when I state that this is the only part of the book 
where the origin of the nickname "Smoky" is discussed.

However, I disagree somewhat with your interpretation of the passage 
you quote above. I think that when Crowley says "his own, his 
father's, and Smoky" he means that the first set of relatives in the 
first city called him Evan, the second set Barnable (his father's 
name in the sense of "Mr. Barnable? That's my my father's name.") and 
the third set Smoky. It may be peculiar for the relatives of a young 
boy to call him by his last name, but it is not unheard of; it is 
much less likely (to me at least) that both Smoky and his father 
would allow their relatives to call Smoky Douglas (for example) if 
that was really his father's name. It would have caused a lot of 
unnecessary confusion, if nothing else.

This still makes it seems likely that Smoky's father was not named 
Evan, but not certain.

William Ansley

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 09:53:03 +0000

William Ansley wrote:
> >Smoky "lived a lot in three different suburbs
> the third set Smoky.

I thought of this interpretation, but rejected it on the grounds that
the narrator's vocabulary is (or seems) straightforward, without
paraphrases of this type.  My feeling is that had Crowley meant
"surname," he would have said "surname."  And after all, "Barnable" is
as much Smoky's "own" name as "Evan" is.  I do admit, though, that I
don't know why Smoky's relatives would have called him by his father's
first name.

> it is

Actually, the sentence we're discussing refers to a time after Smoky's
father has died.

--Adam

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 22:35:48 +0000

>Actually, the sentence we're discussing refers to a time after Smoky's

Well, I guess that serves me right for bragging about how carefully I 
re-read LB. But I did read it carefully, it's just that my memory is 
shot.

Even though the fact that Smoky's father was dead at the time 
completely vitiates my argument, I still find the use of "father's 
name" for surname to be less of a stretch than you do and feel my 
interpretation is at least admissible. But you may well be right. 
Relatives can become confused.

William Ansley