What the elm?

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 07 Jun 2007, 18:48 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 11:48:28 -0700
Subject: (urth) What the elm?
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On 6/6/07, JWillard <aldenweer at charter.net> wrote:

> I think the mistake is to assume an allusion is just some sort of homage
> or a wink and a nod:  I don't know if it's that simple.

Certainly not *all* are! I'm not inveighing against noting or interpreting
allusions, only against the assumption that all allusions are equally
significant.

> I think it's quite possible that the Book of the New Sun is Wolfe
> playing with the Divine Comedy.

Wow. That's interesting, particularly if you revert to the original
structure of a trilogy. Thecla as Beatrice? Jonas (or Talos) as
Vergil? H'mmm.

> In The White Goddess, Graves mentions the connection between the elm and
> the vine of Dionysus - which, as Borski's pointed out, is what Dennis is
> short for.

Yes. But then, he's mostly called "Den" (short for both "Alden" and "Dennis"),
and that's where a wolf dwells...

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
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http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
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