Wolfe story in Weird Tales

maa32 · 01 Jun 2003, 06:05 · from urth-v0306.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) Wolfe story in Weird Tales
Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 23:05:45 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0306-3441 at digest.urth.net>
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This months Weird Tales has a new Wolfe story, "My Name is Nancy Wood" I re=
ad=20
it quickly in the bookstore, so here are some spoilers

s
p
o
i
l
e
r
s

It is a first person account which purports to be a note found interred wit=
h a=20
woman who has been dead for a century.  According to a prefatory note from =
a=20
doctor, she is exhumed because their is a suspicion that she was poisoned b=
y a=20
lover and died.  The note says that Nancy Wood, the narrator, was transfere=
d=20
from a Sanatarium to a cardiac ward where she worked as a nurse.  She had a=20
patient who was a Reverend.  He asks her to pray for him, and she eventuall=
y=20
breaks down and does so sincerely.  He says he doubts he will ever get back=
 to=20
St. Martha of the Wood, and she notes that he thinks she must be related=20
somehow due to her name.  He dies, then gets up and gets dressed.  She take=
s=20
him home and they make love.  She takes him back to the hospital, where he =
is=20
later found dead.  He is rushed off to the morgue, but when he arrives ther=
e=20
he is alive again, so he gets sent back.  Nurse Wood begs her grandneice to=20
bury her with pencil and paper in case the same thing should happen to her=20
after she dies.  The Reverend was married, so their affair was adulterous.
It ends with a disclaimer from the present day doctor, who doubts that the=20
note was really written in the grave.

Ok, here's my best shot at this one: the Reverend may have had some kind of=20
medication that induced the old false death of Romeo and Juliet fame.  He t=
ook=20
it as a scam to win people over to his church and beliefs, and he used it t=
o=20
get Nurse Wood in bed.  It may have stopped his heart for a while or=20
something.  Maybe his wife was poisoning him with it for infidelities. =20
Perhaps Nancy Wood was introduced to the same drug, through the jealous wif=
e=20
or by threatening to continue their affair or make it public after he retur=
ned=20
to life.  However, I figure she would probably have been embalmed, so their=20
might be a much more mystical explanation than that, instead of my rather=20
ordinary drug idea.  I suppose I should look up the significance of Martha =
of=20
the Wood right now.  Just some initial impressions; I don't know if anyone=20
else has read it.

Marc Aramini

--=20

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