Peace, and colors, and murder, and games

Adam Thornton28 Aug 2008, 02:29

So I'm re-reading Robert Borski on Peace, and it's quite clever. But something else occurs to me. The characters have, indeed, obvious color associations. And, well, there are clearly some murders in Peace. And that got me thinking about Mrs. Peacock, and Mr. Green, and Mrs. White, and Professor Plum, and a nefarious House littered about with implements of murder. I wonder if, just as there's a reading of Through The Looking Glass and what Alice Found There as a chess game, there's a reading of Peace as a game of Clue (Cluedo to you Brits). Has anyone already traversed this particular path? Adam

Dave Tallman28 Aug 2008, 04:59

↳ in reply to Adam Thornton

I posted on this a few months ago, in April:

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By the way, did the name "Professor Peacock" and the other color names make anyone think of the game of "Clue?"

And later Helen Algmin wrote, and I replied:

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/ PS — Yes, the color names make me think of Clue. And for good reason. In Clue, /> >/ the names are supposed to be pseudonyms to keep the players anonymous. I think /> >/ Weer also uses pseudonyms.

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I think that idea was only introduced in the Clue movie, but you have a good idea about pseudonyms. For example, the name "Julius Smart" seems too descriptive of the man to be real.

My last comment on the "Clue" connection:

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To press on the analogy, Clue players must visit specific rooms in a mansion in order to invoke memories to confirm or contradict their theories. They cannot access the central room where the truth is hidden. Likewise, Weer says he lives on the periphery of his house and that he never goes into his den (Den, himself) p. 10. A similar point is made by the waiting-room music, "A Life for the Czar" by Glinka (p. 3). In this opera, a Russian peasant is forced by an invading army to lead them to the secret hiding place of the Czar. Pretending to comply, he leads them on a wild-goose-chase through swamps and thickets until they are completely demoralized. It fits my experience trying to follow Weer in this novel.

We do know one murder in full Clue-style: Professor Peacock killed Mrs. Smart in the village with a car.

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