5HC - Maison du Chien

jbarach at aol.com · 02 Sep 2014, 22:11 · from 2014-September.txt.gz

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From: jbarach at aol.com (jbarach at aol.com)
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 18:11:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: (urth) 5HC - Maison du Chien
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Number 5 says that the house in which he lives is nicknamed "Maison du Chien," partly due to the statue of Cerberus outside and partly as an allusion to the family's last name -- which is, if you put all the data together, Wolfe.

The house is a brothel, and that may be significant in this connection too.  I'm part of an online group that's reading through Augustine's City of God in a year, and today I came to Book 18, chapter 21, in which Augustine discusses the story of Romulus and Remus.  The two brothers were raised by a wolf, the legend says.  Augustine mentions that story, but then adds:

There is, however, no lack of people who say that, when the exposed infants lay wailing, they were first taken in by some unknown whore, and that hers were the first breasts they sucked -- for "she-wolves" (lupae) was the name given to whores, which is why houses of ill repute are even now called "wolf-houses" (lupanaria).

How could I read that and not think of Fifth Head?  I have no way of knowing if Wolfe had read City of God by the time he wrote Fifth Head or if there might have been some other classical source that pointed him in this direction, but it sure seems to fit nicely, doesn't it?

And then that raises the question: Are Number Five (Gene) and his brother David in some way parallel to Romulus and Remus?

John

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