Free Live Free

William Ansley · 20 Apr 2001, 01:11 · from urth-v0030.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Free Live Free
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 01:11:49
Message-ID: <urth-v0030-0321 at digest.urth.net>
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At 11:12 AM -0500 4/18/01, James Jordan wrote:
>	Second, the characters: I suspect that many of the minor=20
>characters come from later Oz books, since Wolfe is familiar with=20
>them. I'm not interested in reading these to see if this might be=20
>the case, however.

I have seen this idea that there are strong parallels to _The=20
Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ (aka _The Wizard of Oz_ in later printings)=20
in _Free Live Free_ batted around in this list over and over, but=20
have never found it very convincing. (Didn't this idea originate in a=20
review by John Clute?)

But you make a better case than I've seen before. However, I still=20
think that the Oz associations are much looser than you do; I really=20
don't think Wolfe took any of the minor characters from later Oz=20
books. I think I am qualified to make this statement. I have re-read=20
all 14 of Baum's original books fairly recently when I wrote my long=20
series of essays (well, really, rough drafts of essays) about the Oz=20
references in Wolfe's novella, "The Eyeflash Miacles." This is=20
presumably how you know that he is familiar with the books.

And don't forget the movie! It is different from the book in many=20
ways, but it is explicitly referred to in FLF and the Oz books=20
aren't. Wolfe's Oz references in TEM are almost all from the books,=20
or could be, but there is one reference that can only come from the=20
movie. The character/hallucination Little Tib perceives as Dorothy=20
towards the end of TEM wears ruby slippers; in the book they were=20
silver shoes.

TEM seems to have another link with FLF, it, along with _Peace_ and=20
some of Wolfe's other short stories including _The Hero as Werewolf_=20
and _Forlesen_ have characters who mourn a "lost American past" and=20
feel that they or their ancestors were somehow banished from their=20
rightful place in the American present.

But you make a good case and if I have time I will re-read FLF and=20
keep a very sharp eye out for Oz stuff, especially from the later=20
books.

On a more or less unrelated note, you say:

>	Thus, in a very broad sense, Ben Free is partly a kind of=20
>Christ figure, providing an opportunity to have a "new birth."

I think Wolfe makes an extended joke about this in FLF, as I wrote=20
quite a while ago (May 6, 1998). I have made a few minor edits, but I=20
am quoting in full because nobody commented on this message when I=20
originally posted it, so possibly no one remembers it:

>I re-read FLF a while ago and noticed something that hasn't been discussed
>in this group. Since all (most?) of Wolfe's major works have a Christ
>figure in them, one would expect FLF to have one, too. Ben Free seems to be
>the closest thing to one. He does offer the four protagonists a "new life"
>at the end of the book, just before the epilogue, and just before this he
>says that he arranged that they all get their greatest desires "because
>I've learned that we all have to get them before we can have better ones."
>
>But, in FLF, it is (more or less) directly implied that Ben Free is the Son
>of God. Dr Makee "is" God. This comes from Ch. 11, P. 69 of the Tor pb. ed=
.:
>
>---------------------------------------------
>"Do I look like God?" the old doctor said. "I don't know." As a matter of
>fact he did look like God. He was a small, elderly man who sported a little
>white beard and an even whiter mustache; the collar of a tattersall
>shirt--an almost infallible sign of the presense of deity--peeped above the
>collar of his overcoat.
>---------------------------------------------
>
>and Ben Free is his son, from ch. 31, p. 206:
>
>---------------------------------------------
>The old doctor began to pump the blood pressure cuff. "He was my son, you
>know." Barnes stared at him, and he chuckled again. "Not my actual
>son--Tommy died a long while ago, and I think Ben was really a few years
>older than I am. But we used to pretend that way and we had a lot of fun.
>..."
>---------------------------------------------
>
>and finally this from ch. 36, p. 241-242:
>
>---------------------------------------------
>Barnes shook his head.
>   "She said, 'God, you gotta take care of Baby Phil because he won't never
>take care of himself.' I wasn't there, but Bubba was, and he told me. God
>has to get me out, and you're his chosen instrument."
>   "Instrument, hell. I never even met Him!"
>   Dr. Makee chuckled and nudged Barnes with an elbow. "Don't be too sure."
>---------------------------------------------
>
>Now all of this is done in a playful, not to mention peculiar, way and
>probably isn't meant to be taken seriously.
>
>But then FLF is a playful, not to mention peculiar, novel. Moreover, I am
>not at all sure it isn't meant to be taken seriously.
>

William Ansley

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