{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/995", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 995, "subject": "Cherry Jubilee", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "1998-07-16T00:06:39+00:00", "last": "1998-07-17T08:22:11+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Robert Borski", "address": "rborski at coredcs.com" }, "date": "1998-07-16T00:06:39+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Cherry Jubilee", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Gene Wolfe's \"Cherry Jubilee\" might be read as a simple Agatha\nChristie-like whodunit set aboard a spaceship traveling to Mars, but like\nall of Wolfe's stories set in space (perhaps because both heaven and space\nare traditionally thought of as being skyward), it has a strong religious\nsubtext. It's also of a piece with THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS in its\nthematic approach to cloning.\n\nCherry Houdini is the clone of escape artist Merry Houdini. Merry (as in\nXmas) represents one half of Mary, Christ's mother, while \"Cherry\" (a\npopular euphemism for virgin) represents the other half. Cherry also\nrepresents the immaculately-conceived Christ child; only as we so often see\nin stories by Wolfe such provenance--because it seeks to emulate, if not\nusurp, God--is unholy. Witness Number Five's association with the\nAnti-Christ or the soldiers in \"The HORARS of War.\" Wolfe always links\nthese figures with perdition and in \"Cherry Jubilee\" this unholiness leads\nto death of Merry/Mary by her own \"daughter,\" who drives a knife into her\nchest while her arms are spread crucifixion style. \n\nAlso present in this perversion of the traditional Nativity/Crucifixion is\nSmith, aka Smitty, an American spy who succeeds in bribing Cherry into\ndating him--if she refuses he'll turn her in as Merry's killer (the Captain\nof the ship has actually been blamed). Smitty, I warrant, is the evil\nequivalent of Joseph the Carpenter, husband to Mary (both blacksmithing and\ncarpentry require skilled use of the hands). Smitty's further association\nwith blacksmithing aligns him with the fires of Hell--which Mars, the\nsoi-disant red planet, symbolically represents. And what better vehicle to\ntransport people to Hell than a rocketship owned by Godless Communists, the\nReds? \n\nOthers present (and who in turn are each speculated upon as being the\nkiller by KGB agent Vera Oussenko) include Comrade Petrovsky and his wife\nAnna, who, in addition to being based on Petrov and Anna Pavlova in\nTolstoy's ANNA KARENINA, may also be thought of as Peter, one of Christ's\napostles and the first pope, and Anne, mother of Mary (the same association\nof Anne with cloning is seen, of course, in Fifth Head).\n\nAs for Captain Bogdanoff, I wonder if he's not based on film director Peter\nBogdanovich--another Peter with a Russian name. Bogdanovich, for what it's\nworth, was romantically involved with 1980 Playmate of the Year Dorothy\nStratton (whom Cherry and Merry physically resemble). Stratton was\neventually killed by her estranged husband (which recapitulates the Jubilee\naspect of the story: i.e., the husband is taking back his \"property\").\nCaptain Bogdanoff has been sleeping with Merry in the story, and soon (if\nhe can get the Party to clear him of murder charges) may do so with Cherry,\nsince she's masquerading as Merry. Meanwhile, back here in the real world,\nPeter Bogdanovich soon began dating the late Dorothy Stratton's younger\nsister, who I'm sure bore at least a sororal resemblance (Bogdanovich may\nhave even married her--I'm not sure). So there are extended parallels.\n\nRobert Borski" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "mary whalen", "address": "marewhalen at yahoo.com" }, "date": "1998-07-16T22:35:05+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Cherry Jubilee", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This is Sean Whalen (prion).\n\nWhen I saw that Robert Borski had written a post about \"Cherry\nJubilee\" I read the story for the first time so I would be able to\nunderstand his discussion. I'm glad I did, as he analyzed the\nreligious allusions in the work I wasn't aware of. However, at the\nend of the story, the Captain is not the one blamed by the\nauthorities. His father-in-law, a party official, has enough\ninfluence that Oussenko's story is not accepted by the law, and\nOussenko is locked up on the ship, where she will be returned to Earth\nfor sentencing. Just a minor point.\n\nAlso, even though this is a crime/mystery story of Wolfe's, I was\nactually able to figure out the ending before it happened, in contrast\nto usually not understanding the ending even after I'm done!\n\nprion" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "gmcintyre", "address": "gmcintyre at rgbarry.com" }, "date": "1998-07-17T08:22:11+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Cherry Jubilee", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I've posted.\n\nI wanted to follow up Robert Borski's post about CJ, specificially his\npoint about Peter Bogdanovich/Dorothy Stratten. In 1980, Stratten starred\nin Galaxina, playing an android with whom the captain falls in love. I\ndon't want to belabor this point, but I had to add that little tidbit.\n\nThanks.\n\nRory McIntyre" } ] } ] }