Subject: (urth) Forlesen

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 16:17:11 +0000

Ack.  People keep referring to this novella and I've got a note somewhere
about how much I liked it, but I can't remember what it's about.  Could
someone please e-mail me a brief something to jog my memory?

-Rostrum (who needs to get copies of CASTLE OF DAYS & IODDAOSAOS)

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

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From: Derek Bell <dbell at maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 22:05:40 +0000

>someone please e-mail me a brief something to jog my memory?

	It's about a guy who wakes up in a house, meets a woman who is
his wife, glances through the manuals for his life, goes to work and
his whole life is short, over before he can take control of it. It's
been described as Kafkaesque, which is appropriate, though the
authority in question is the one that supplies the "manuals" (for want
of a better word) and makes the rules. Oh, the main characters' job
seems particularly strange and pointless, with (other) people showing
great enthusiasm for something that isn't quite clear. (It's either a
course in motivation, a course in managment, a game or all three.)

	It reminds me of Heideggers' "throwness of being".

	Derek

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 10:43:06 +0000

> course in motivation, a course in managment, a game or all three.)

Ah, yes (no, no, yes, no, yes, no)!  I get creeps just remembering some
of the instructions in the wife's handbook. 

Does anyone know where the word/name "Forlesen" comes from?  Don't tell me
Wolfe made it up or I shall be thoroughly disillusioned.

-Rostrum

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 10:44:00 +0000

>someone please e-mail me a brief something to jog my memory?

Forlesen is one of my favorite Wolfe stories.  The main character's, in   
fact most or the characters' lives, seem to be condensed into one long,   
drab, pointless day.  Forlesen wakes one morning a blank slate.  Some   
memories slowly return.  He recalls that people cover themselves with   
clothing.  He remembers language.  Before he can remember more his wife   
begins to rush him off to work.  She points out a stack of manuals which   
explain his responsibilities.  He only has time to scan them.

His wife can barely contain her terror.  She woke before him and had time   
to read through her manuals, one of which told her that if her husband   
doesn't go to work, she and the children will starve.  After she finally   
pressures him to leave, he hears the door lock firmly behind him.

I believe that 'Forlesen' is a name invented by Wolfe to invoke the idea   
of someone forlorn or lost.  I had the feeling that Forlesen was   
dislocated from a real past elsewhere.  He seems to know that life isn't   
supposed to be like this.  I thought that if he had more time to reflect   
he might remember more of his real past, but he is hurried from one   
station in his life to the next by his wife and coworkers.  These people,   
themselves, seem to be as lost and befuddled as he is.  They are   
obviously bluffing their way along and after Forlesen begins to imitate   
them his 'progress' at work becomes streamlined.

There is more to the story and there a couple of subplots.  On the   
surface, it seemed to be a sketch of life in the industrial workplace.   
 It reminded me of the movie 'Brazil'.  The part that confused me the   
most was during Forlesen's drive to work.  Can anyone tell me what he saw   
holding up the elevated road?  I particularly enjoyed the scene with the   
patrolman here.

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 12:21:00 +0000

>From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 Edition
Online at: http://www.onelook.com/

For*lese" (?), v. t. [p. p. Forlore (?), Forlorn ().] [OE. forlesen. See   
Forlorn.] To lose utterly.

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From: Alice Turner <al at interport.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 19:14:19 +0000

Rostrum,

>Wolfe made it up or I shall be thoroughly disillusioned.

Don't be disillusioned! It's a very old word, with an impressive (and apt)
OED citation. which I won't quote. It's related to "forlorn" with
implications of loss, perdition, ruin, shame, destruction. It goes back to
Old Frisian, and to Beowulf. I'm impressed!

-alga-