DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending

Adam Stephanides · 16 Jan 2003, 13:54 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 07:54:13 -0600
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on 1/14/03 5:29 PM, cilluff1 at optonline.net at cilluff1 at optonline.net wrote:

> Of course, North and Klamm both are Williams, and the hero obviously is n=
ot
> them --
> although perhaps I should just say he does not seem to be them.  I guess
> the fact that he meets them does not preclude them really being the "same"
> person from different worlds.  In fact, this would explain why Klamm calls
> the hero "Herr Kay," which is his own name.

Klamm calls the hero "Herr Kay" because Klamm is a character from Kafka's
THE CASTLE, and the protagonist of that book is always referred to as K.  I
don't know why Klamm says K. "was myself also," though. (303, hc)  Nor do I
know why he calls K. "an old friend": in THE CASTLE Klamm never speaks to
K., nor is there any hint that Klamm has any personal interest in K.

Mantis's suggestion that Klamm is modelled on Kissinger is an intriguing
one, which hadn't occurred to me; but I would imagine Wolfe would be likely
to loathe Kissinger, both for being "soft on Communism" and for his amoral
approach to foreign policy (the polar opposite of the Narrator's
"statecraft" in TBOTSS).

--Adam

--=20

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