Subject: (urth) Blue Mouse, Night Chough, uncollected stories

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 04:58:48 +0000

I finally got around to (re)reading "The Blue Mouse," and I'm kind of sorry
I did: it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.  The story oozes contempt
for the Techs, "soldiers" psychologically unable to fight, who believe
themselves morally superior to the Marksmen who do the actual fighting, but
are really just cowardly, and treacherous to boot.  Since the story was
published during the Vietnam War, and the war in the story, as in "Hour of
Trust," is modelled after the Vietnam war, I suspect that the Techs are
intended to represent conscientous objectors or draft evaders.  (I'm not
objecting to Wolfe's disapproval of COs or draft evaders, if that's what it
is, but to the lack of subtlety with which it's expressed.)

I have a hard time seeing the political background as anything more than
window-dressing for the story's main point, though Wolfe would undoubtedly
be opposed to the UN superseding nations, or (probably) to American soldiers
serving in a UN-controlled force.

On interesting point is that in both this story and "Hour of Trust," the
word "peace" is used as part of a dishonest euphemism.  The occupying force
here is known as the "Peace Force," and in "Hour of Trust" the rebel who
first mentions the suicide bombers refers to them as "donat[ing] their
bodies to Peace." (154, Orb ed.)  I wonder if this has any significance for
PEACE, which was published two years after "Hour of Trust."

I also finally got around to reading "The Night Chough," since I found the
CROW anthology at my local public library.  It's a very good story, much
better than I'd expected it to be, and may be one of his best stories of
recent years.  It's connected to BOTLS and BOTSS, but can be read
independently of both of them (and of the Crow mythos, whatever that is),
and is well worth seeking out.

Speaking of seeking things out, I was in a used bookstore and glanced at the
Wolfe books, and to my amazement they had a copy of CASTLE OF THE OTTER for
only $3.  (A book club edition, but still.)  Even though I own CASTLE OF
DAYS, I bought it, just to have it.  It also has a bibliography in the back,
though only going up to 1980.  Anyway, looking at the bibliography I saw
seven stories by Wolfe which I'd never read: Mountains Like Mice, Screen
Test, Volksweapon, The Green Wall Said, It's Very Clean, Thou Spark of
Blood, and King under the Mountain.  The first four of these are collected
in YOUNG WOLFE, which I don't have; It's Very Clean was in an anthology
called GENERATION, which I don't recall ever seeing; but the last two,
according to the ISFDB, only appeared in magazines.  Has anybody read any of
these?  What are they like?  Are any of them unsung gems, or at least worth
hunting down?

--Adam

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 06:50:07 +0000

>are really just cowardly, and treacherous to boot.

But in the end Lonnie underwent a battlefield conversion; when push came to
shove, he decided that to kill was better than to die. He was gung-ho at the
end, mowing down the enemy like a regular John Wayne.

> Since the story was

What, then, was Wolfe saying with that ending?

-Roy

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From: tom <tom at bitterman.net>
Date: Thu, 07 Mar 2002 18:50:37 +0000

Roy C. Lackey writes:
> From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
> Date: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 10:58 PM
> > Since the story was

That CO's and draft evaders are no different than the soldiers who
actually fight; that deep down inside we're all killers; and that
CO's and draft evaders pile hypocrisy and cowardice on top of
an unjustified feeling of superiority.

It may be that Wolfe is aiming straight at the college crowd
and their deferments.  If I remember correctly the Techs were
chosen based on a governmental criterion (a test), not on
introspective or religious grounds.

It's hard to see Wolfe getting on the Amish for not bearing
arms.  It's easy to see a veteran of Korea mad at college
students during Vietnam.

> -Roy

Tom

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 2002 15:55:05 +0000

> end, mowing down the enemy like a regular John Wayne.

He could have run away; his choice is not between killing and dying, but
between risking his life (by killing) and preserving it.  But you're right
that he undergoes a conversion.

> What, then, was Wolfe saying with that ending?

Lonnie isn't a real Tech (i.e. a coward).  The psychological tests got him
wrong, presumably because he'd been thinking about his mice (another dig at
applying "scientific management" to war).  Even before his conversion, he
sees through the rationalizations the Techs use to maintain their
self-esteem, and is ashamed of himself and his fellow Techs.

By showing Lonnie rejecting his Tech-hood and acting courageously, Wolfe is
highlighting the cowardice of the other Techs.

on 3/7/02 12:50 PM, tom at tom at bitterman.net wrote:

> actually fight;

They are; they're inferior.

> that deep down inside we're all killers;

I don't think Wolfe would put it this way; he'd probably say that we all
have the capacity to be killers.

> and that

Yes.

> and their deferments.

This occurred to me after my earlier post.

> If I remember correctly the Techs were

Well, the test was to see whether they were psychologically able to fight,
not to determine what special skills they have (which they don't, for the
most part).  But it is true that their technical skills are the excuse for
not using them in combat.

> arms.

Yes, but during the Vietnam War the Amish weren't what most people would
have thought of first when they thought of conscientious objectors.  Wolfe
would be going after people who claimed moral objections to fighting without
belonging to a pacifist denomination.

> It's easy to see a veteran of Korea mad at college
> students during Vietnam.

Or even more so students with grad-school deferments.

--Adam

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