Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories

William Ansley · 17 Apr 2000, 00:36 · from urth-v0028.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2000 00:36:52
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Rostrum (Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>) wrote:

>I finally got a copy of this book and will probably be posting about some
>of the stories over the next few days.

Good, I will be interested to hear what you have to say. This is one=20
of my favorite Wolfe anthologies, in part because it contains "The=20
Eyeflash Miracles," about which I wrote a long series of posts which=20
are the closest thing I have to a claim to fame in this list (aside=20
from a tendency to be cranky).

>Are the quotations in this story from an existing Sci-Fi Pulp, or did
>Wolfe invent them?  They seem exactly like what I know of H.G. Wells's
>"Island of Doctor Moreau" is about, although I've never read it.  I wonder
>if naming the hero Ransom was a nod to Lewis's Space Trilogy.

I am sure that Wolfe made them up. The similarity to _The Island of=20
Doctor Moreau_ is (IMO) deliberate and serves to indicate that this=20
is derivative "hack" sf. (I have read _Moreau_ and the similarity is=20
not as great as you may think; certainly there is no ancient Lemurian=20
civilization in Wells' book.)

>
>I gather that Dr. Black was giving her drugs, not really trying to help
>the boy's mother, but gave that story when the police arrived.  He says
>she was on amphetamines, which are pills, not injections, but she had all
>those needle tracks and he was giving her another injection when the boy
>found them.

My impression is that Dr. Black *was* trying to help Tackman's=20
mother. I think she got her drugs from other sources, sources which=20
included Jason (her toy boy lover). She passed out at the party,=20
probably because of mixing alcohol with some other drug and Dr. Black=20
was trying to revive her. I don't know why Doctor Death wanted to=20
show Tackman his mother getting an injection. I also don't know if he=20
meant it to result in benefit or harm for Tackman.

>But what does Dr. Death mean when he says, "But if you start the book
>again we'll all be back...You're too young to realize it yet, but it's the
>same with you"?
>
>It seems like it could be some kind of religious reference to the
>resurrection or something, but that doesn't seem to be the kind of insight
>Wolfe would believe comes with age.  Or maybe he's saying that we keep
>fighting the same battles over and over again as we age?
>
>I don't get it.  Anyone have better ideas?
>

I don't get it either. My only though is that Tackman Babcock is a=20
character in a book, just like Doctor Death (well, not "Just like";=20
Doctor Death is a character in a book in a book). But why getting=20
older will make him realize that he is in a book, I have no idea.

William Ansley

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