Peace of Mind

Alex David Groce · 25 Aug 1998, 17:33 · from urth-v0018.mbox · original

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From: "Alex David Groce" <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: (urth) Peace of Mind
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 17:33:57
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	I still find the "Purgatorio" hypothesis to fit best with my
interpretation of "Peace".  This IS Weer's life as it was lived (or, perhap=
s,
as he tells it to himself, which may be subtly different than the real thin=
g).
 The tacking of memos onto the board, the nailing down of the final memos, =
is
Weer's exploration of his past.
	In summary (roughly).  The fall of Eleanor Bold's elm wakes Weer's
restless soul, and begins a process of telling its own story.  The
Necronomicon, "the book that binds the dead," is appropriate, in that it is=
 by
binding his life into a story that Weer comes to terms with his painful
(although not, in my opinion, murderou, other than Bobby) and solitary life.
 He also binds himself to the others who helped to create this story, bindi=
ng
the other dead to himself (we can assume that all are dead, given the time =
it
would take for the elm to grow and topple).  In fact, the spin given to gho=
stly
life here reminds me of T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"--"the end of all our
exploration will be to arrive at the place that we started from, and to kno=
w it
for the very first time".  Only after death can Weer "know" his life.
  Ironically, the purpose of the binding is to set Weer free, to no longer
haunt his house or his skull, but to the an only hinted at something else
(which I think is what the Chinese head-rest at the end indicates, a "poppi=
ng"
of a layer of reality, a joining of the other "purged" dead--his Aunt is
calling him, after all.)
	It seems to me that the placing of the memos on the board (I don't have
the book with me at the moment to point out specifics) indicates that a cer=
tain
memory (the order being holographic, not chronological) has been dealt with.
 The story of the Sidhe suggests that this "unnatural" extension of Weer's =
self
is about to be replaced by a true immortality (true/false immortalities are=
 a
favorite theme of Wolfe's).  He has outlived his time in his skull, on Eart=
h,
and now comes a baptism of Father, Son and Holy Ghost to give him Peace.
"'. . . The time of the sidhe is long past, and the time of geese is passin=
g.
 And in time men, too, will pass, as every man who lives long learns in his=
 own
body. But Jesus Christ saves all.'"
	Actually, this line has always given me the haunting image of that elm
falling over Weer's grave not just fifty years later, but perhaps even after
(for whatever reason) men no longer live...

--=20
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

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