Haunted Boardinghouse and a 1 - 2 - 3

Urash, Tom · 25 Jan 2000, 14:49 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: "Urash, Tom" <turash at firstam.com>
Subject: (urth) Haunted Boardinghouse and a 1 - 2 - 3
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 14:49:48
Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0723 at digest.urth.net>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jim Jordan [SMTP:jbjordan at gnt.net]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 25, 2000 12:15 PM
> To:	urth at lists.best.com
> Subject:	(urth) Haunted Boardinghouse
>=20
> >
> >Now, is there anyone who would be so kind as to translate all the Latin
> >bits in "The Haunted Boardinghouse"? [I know that some of it is explained
> >in context, but I can't come up with a good guess for some of the phrases
> >towards the end].
> >
> >William Ansley
>=20
> 	Now there is a story that left me confused! It reminded me of an
> episode
> of the Simpsons, starting at one place, moving a lot of other places, and
> winding up a different story altogether. I've got to reread it and see if
> I
> can pick up thematic continuity. Anybody want to share an analysis with
> us?
> 	Any connection with the boardinghouse in *Free Life Free*? Both are
> "America." Are there Wizard of Oz allusions in "Haunted B."?
>=20
> Nutria
	=20

	Agreed! This was the most perplexing, for moi, of the lot. I need to
read this once again, but I'll wait a bit to see if anyone comes back with
some translations. Other than a shade of "Free Live Free" {I guess I missed
the Oz allusion(s)}, I was also in mind of John Crowley's "Little Big",
another architecturally haunting story I've been meaning to read again for
many years.=20

	Quick opinion: the substance given to Jo An in the 1 - 2 - 3 story
seems to be heroin from the description of its color to the immediate
effects upon and subsequent death, of the girl. I certainly wouldn't deem
her death a suicide as much as I would an accidental poisoning - she was
simply ignorant of what she'd gotten her hands on and how far she could go
with it. Did the previous civilization use the phone and the "heroin" for
suicide? Or is this just evidence of their decadence; how low they'd fallen
morally/spiritually? I have a hard time with the mass suicide
interpretation. This seems like a civilization too selfish for the
fanaticism necessary for such dramatics.

	 Tom=20

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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