Junie Moon (Again)

JBarach at aol.com · 11 Oct 2008, 20:26 · from 2008-October.txt.gz

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From: JBarach at aol.com (JBarach at aol.com)
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:26:40 EDT
Subject: (urth) Junie Moon (Again)
Message-ID: <c15.28326056.36226600 at aol.com>

Urthers --

Last night, I read "Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?" for the first time.   It's 
in Starwater Strains and, to my surprise, is being reprinted in the  new Best 
Of, which implies that someone at least thinks it's one of Wolfe's best  -- 
and that implies that someone thinks he understands the story.  Or  perhaps 
whoever chose those stories (and I suspect Wolfe wasn't really involved,  or "From 
the Cradle" would be in there) thinks that it's a story that  demonstrates 
Wolfe's trickiness and repays study.

I have to admit that most of the story baffles me.  The basic outline  is 
fairly clear: It is narrated by an extremely strong man who works for a  circus 
and who has been hired/managed by someone named June Moon to look for  
something called the White Cow Moon, which circles the earth at an extremely low  
orbit and which has to be moving extremely fast in order to do so.  She has  
disappeared, and the strong man is looking for her.  So much for the  basics.  
Almost everything else in the story is, for me at least,  mysterious.

The narrator is often called Hercules, and he thinks Junie Moon's real name  
is probably "June."  I suspect he's wrong and that whoever pointed this out  
on the list earlier is correct: Her real name is Juno.  Those names put us  in 
the sphere of Greek mythology, with Juno sending Hercules out on some  
missions.

But I suspect that approach is also misleading.  Hercules is only the  
narrator's stage name.  His real name is Sam.  Short for what?   SAMSON, the strong 
man in the Bible.  

He is actually "Sam Jr." he says, which makes him the son of Samson.   He 
isn't Samson himself, but he's the son of Samson.  And, in fact, I  suspect that 
"Sam Jr." is something of a joke on Wolfe's part, a joke which  hints at what 
I'm saying: The narrator is Sam Jr, which means he is the son of  Sam or 
"Sam's son."  Get it?

Incidentally, the name "Samson" is derived from the Hebrew word "shemesh,"  
sun, which is something an internet search easily turns up 
(_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson) ).   Given that Junie 
is a Moon, perhaps that's significant.

There may be other allusions to Samson, too, including the tearing open of  
the gate (Samson uproots the gates of Gaza) and the line at the end: "If  all 
of us get mad at once maybe we will bring the whole thing crashing  down."  And 
if those allusions are really allusions, then there may be some  parallel 
between "the feds" and the Philistines.

But even if this is correct, I still don't understand the story.  That  
there's an allusion to a Lafferty story about a tiny moon orbiting the world, I  
understand, and I think I follow the physics (the Moon would have to be  
travelling considerably faster than a bullet in order to maintain an orbit at  such a 
low altitude).  

But ... 

* What's the significance of Junie's last name, Moon?  She is herself  short 
and fat and therefore moon-like, but beyond that...?

* What's with the King Arthur, Merlin's cave stuff, and who are the people  
they see?  

* What is the area in which Sam thinks Junie has disappeared?  

* Who are the feds and why are they after Sam & Junie?

* Why was Sam's dad killed?  

* Beyond being an allusion to Lafferty's name, what's the significance of  
Roy T. Laffer and what does the discussion of the "T" in his name (like "Honest  
tea is the best policy") mean?

* What did happen to Junie Moon?

The story begins, of course, with a reference to Indians who tell you a  
story but all the time are laughing at you.  So was Roy T. Laffer, we're  told.  
And so, I think, is Sam.  But I don't get the joke.

Thoughts?

John

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