Suzanne Delange

Craig Christensen · 11 May 1998, 09:08 · from urth-v0010.mbox · original

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From: Craig Christensen <2644 at mn3.lawson.lawson.com>
Subject: (urth) Suzanne Delange
Date: Mon, 11 May 1998 09:08:00
Message-ID: <urth-v0010-0135 at digest.urth.net>
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After reading Suzanne Delange I looked for Spanish Influenza information,  =20
to date when the characters were in high school.  Of course I was  =20
surprised to learn that the Spanish Influenza occurred in 1918 during the  =20
first World War.  This certainly doesn't seem to be the correct period  =20
for the characters' high school years.  Interestingly, several sites made  =20
the observation that the epidemic has been almost completely wiped from  =20
the world's memory.

I took this quote from  =20
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/influenza/trackers.html.  Perhaps the  =20
quote by Mencken is the very quote that sparked the short story.

(quote) Those learning for the first time of the devastating consequences  =20
of the worldwide 1918 Spanish influenza epidemic--or pandemic--typically  =20
respond with two questions: How could they have never heard of a  =20
world-wide scourge that killed upwards of 30 million people? And, could  =20
it happen again?

 Addressing the first question, journalist H.L. Mencken, offered this  =20
theory in 1956: "The epidemic is seldom mentioned, and most Americans  =20
have apparently forgotten it. This is not surprising. The human mind  =20
always tries to expunge the untolerable from memory, just as it tries to  =20
conceal it while current."(end-quote)

I think that the mention of the Spanish Influenza is a major clue to the  =20
nature of the story.  The narrator has forgotten knowing Suzanne in the  =20
past; he hasn't simply failed to meet her.  And his relationship with her  =20
was not minor, it was consequential.

I am willing to concede that the young lady may not be the narrator's  =20
daughter, but I still like the idea.

I have two questions for the group. First, what is the reference to  =20
Hamlet?  And second, why the long rambling description of quilt  =20
collecting?   In such a compact story it must have significance.

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