Subject: Hour of Trust (was Re: (urth) The Best Introduction to the

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 15:14:19 +0000

on 1/30/02 10:45 AM, James Jordan at jbjordan4 at home.com wrote:

> Does he? In "Hour of Trust" (*Island of Dr. Death etc.*) Wolfe
> himself joins a rebellion reciting the Lord's Prayer.

It's not clear to me why you think the bald man reciting the Lord's Prayer
is Wolfe, or even why you think Wolfe approves of the rebellion.  Among
other things, the bald man is a suicide bomber, and while Wolfe as a
Catholic might approve of rebellion under some circumstances, I doubt he
could approve of suicide, which is definitely a sin.  Moreover, the
recruiting centers for volunteers include not only Buddhist spiritual
centers, which Wolfe might possibly be ecumenical enough to approve of, but
a temple of Kali (166, Orb edition), which he almost certainly isn't.  And
the government against which they're rebelling is portrayed as incompetent,
but not tyrannical.

It's a strange story anyway, and one which I think has been dismissed too
readily (myself included).  I remembered it as just an anti-corporation
tract, and it is that, but it may also be the Wolfe story which wears its
modernist mannerisms most boldly on its sleeve, aside from jeux d'esprit
like Parkroads.  (And I have to admit that it was only on this reading that
I realized where the story was taking place.)

--Adam

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 15:46:05 +0000

>the government against which they're rebelling is portrayed as incompetent,

         I stand corrected! Sure, it's got to be Wolfe, but Wolfe is 
clearly making a joke on himself.

>I realized where the story was taking place.)

         I'd like to return to this story at some point. There's a lot of 
interesting setup stuff in the early part, perhaps "the four corners of the 
world" by allusion. I think this is a "packed" story.

Nutria

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