short story digression: Novel 1: Operation ARES

Marc Aramini · 26 Jun 2012, 20:54 · from 2012-June.txt.gz

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From: marcaramini at yahoo.com (Marc Aramini)
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2012 13:54:13 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) short story digression: Novel 1: Operation ARES
In-Reply-To: <8CF21F0E14A387D-998-1EBAB at webmail-m169.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <1340744053.15177.YahooMailClassic at web161803.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>

 John wrote:

Marc --

Thanks for the survey of Operation ARES. You write: 

> There is some banter that the Captain does not
> understand the role of the bishop or clergy in the
> game, while the Captain jokes that Castle does not
> understand the role of the knight or warrior.

It seems to me that Wolfe is inviting us to view the novel in terms of chess. Castle is, I suppose, a rook. The Captain would be a knight. That much I get, but how it relates to the rest of the book I don't know. And I don't know either what the reference to the bishop might be. The bishop is, as you say, the clergy. I take Castle to be saying that the clergy is ultimately going to be on the side of freedom and the Captain will fail because he doesn't pay attention to the church. What does the church matter to the Captain? They don't have obvious power. But then ... there's nothing more about the clergy anywhere else in the book. Nor can I trace the chess stuff any further. 

Thoughts?

John

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Thanks so much for responding, John!
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Definitely, there are many many chess references throughout, and I think the reason Castle shifts allegiances so much is that he is meant to be like a rook: first he is going in the direction of the martians, then the Chinese, then actually back in the direction of the President Pro Tem (straight lines, back and forth).
?
But yes, the absence of clergy in the book and religion as a whole except for Tia Marie and her Hunter Cult is ASTONISHING.? I don't know why it is so absent in this book.? Castle is almost purely secular, even though he is very similar to Silk in appearance (tall thin fair man with a staff who injures his leg and absolutely refuses to commit graft) he is simply NOT a religious figure - he is a scientist/teacher.

Also, the idea of the King as a Lion and the prophecy of the King ascendant with the Bear in the sky (then looking for the big dipper) links up President Boyd to that "king" figure.
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[they start in White City, which does seem like the White side of a chess board as well].? I Also, the gold that is sacrificed to the Pro Tem government is called a "queen sacrifice" to win (has the Captain who was elevated to General actually pulled a pawn to Queen move?)
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The mystery of the bishop and its relevance remains a big gap in the story that SHOULD have been important, I agree.
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