Subject: (urth) Suzanne Delange

From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 09:08:00 +0000

After reading Suzanne Delange I looked for Spanish Influenza information,   
to date when the characters were in high school.  Of course I was   
surprised to learn that the Spanish Influenza occurred in 1918 during the   
first World War.  This certainly doesn't seem to be the correct period   
for the characters' high school years.  Interestingly, several sites made   
the observation that the epidemic has been almost completely wiped from   
the world's memory.

I took this quote from   
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/influenza/trackers.html.  Perhaps the   
quote by Mencken is the very quote that sparked the short story.

(quote) Those learning for the first time of the devastating consequences   
of the worldwide 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic--or pandemic--typically   
respond with two questions: How could they have never heard of a   
world-wide scourge that killed upwards of 30 million people? And, could   
it happen again?

 Addressing the first question, journalist H.L. Mencken, offered this   
theory in 1956: "The epidemic is seldom mentioned, and most Americans   
have apparently forgotten it. This is not surprising. The human mind   
always tries to expunge the untolerable from memory, just as it tries to   
conceal it while current."(end-quote)

I think that the mention of the Spanish Influenza is a major clue to the   
nature of the story.  The narrator has forgotten knowing Suzanne in the   
past; he hasn't simply failed to meet her.  And his relationship with her   
was not minor, it was consequential.

I am willing to concede that the young lady may not be the narrator's   
daughter, but I still like the idea.

I have two questions for the group. First, what is the reference to   
Hamlet?  And second, why the long rambling description of quilt   
collecting?   In such a compact story it must have significance.

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

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From: Peter Westlake <peter at harlequin.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:35:51 +0000

At 09:08 1998-05-11 -0500, Craig Christensen wrote:
...
>was not minor, it was consequential.

The fact that everyone has forgotten that flu epidemic is certainly
very suggestive. At the very least it's a nice coincidence, and
a great find - thanks!

>collecting?   In such a compact story it must have significance.

The Hamlet, at least, is easy:

  "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

(Taken from the first copy of the text that came to hand, at
<http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/052/projects/project03/hamlet.txt>).
It's a very well-known quote (no offense!), hence "Hamlet's hackneyed precept".

I wondered about the quilts too. Misdirection? Some very subtle clue?
They connect with the late eighteenth century, but I don't know what
to make of that, if anything.

Peter.

Peter Westlake, Harlequin Ltd, Barrington Hall, Barrington, Cambs CB2 5RG.

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 12:42:00 +0000

Peter,
>It's a very well-known quote (no offense!), hence "Hamlet's hackneyed   
precept".

None taken.  Yes, it is a very well-known quote, even to me.  But, aren't   
there many familiar quotes from Hamlet? I haven't read the play for a   
couple of years and didn't make the effort to check it myself.  I guess   
because I was so taken with the notion that forgetting was central to the   
story, I was trying to recall a quote about memory.  Just for fun I   
searched hamlet.txt for "memory" and came upon this quote,

    Remember thee?
    Yea, from the table of my memory
    I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
    All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past...

There were other hits on "memory", but not quotes by Hamlet.  It is taken   
out of context, and I don't know if it is familiar enough to be   
"hackneyed".  Kind of interesting though, huh?  I should search for   
"forget", too.

>to make of that, if anything.

This was exactly what I was thinking.  I sometimes think Wolfe is like a   
stage magician, drawing your eye away from the truth in a scene with   
interesting, but less essential action and dialogue.

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 13:13:00 +0000

Adam,

> The girl he sees isn't his own daughter--I can't see the narrator as   
being in his early thirties-
Thank-you for the thorough explanation of this short story.  You have   
convinced me with simple math that the narrator is not the father of the   
young lady at the end.

Alga,

> The flavor of regret is bittersweet.
>
Yes, I thought that the overall tone of the story was "regret".

William,

> What TBotNS really needs (for scholarly purposes anyway) is a thorough,   
comprehensive and intelligently designed index.
The same thought occurred to me as I read through the archives.  I had   
the thought that if a scholarly member of the group devised a format,   
then other members could submit summaries of chapters as they re-read   
them.  They could include characters, settings, new ideas presented,   
reoccurring themes, vocabulary, limited quotations, etc.  Done as a   
group, you Wolfe scholars should be able to produce a searchable   
reference document in a short time.  Count me in.

Craig