From: "Alex David Groce" <adgroce@eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: Re: (urth) Two Wolfe Comments
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 18:51:53 

On Feb 28,  5:25pm, CRCulver@aol.com wrote:
> Subject: Re:  Re: (urth) Two Wolfe Comments
> <<I couldn't agree that the message of "Prufrock" is "old age is a living
> death". If it's summed up anywhere, it's in the lines "Do I dare\Disturb the
> universe?" It's about a life wasted in hesitation and self-doubt>>
> 
> I disagree. My English teacher and most of the literary criticsm about the
> poem think that "Prufrock" is about the an "embittered and horny old man" (I
> can provide the source for this tomorrow once I get to the library) who
cannot
> accept his lack of power when it comes to seducing women. And so, without the
> ability to propogate, his life begins to be without attraction.
> The poem, does, however, go on to a sort of nihilistic viewpoint in which the
> lives of people, no matter how old they are, are basically pointless.
> 
> I shall review the literary criticism tomorrow and prepare an explanation of
> why I think the poem is applicable to PEACE.
> 
> Christopher R. Culver <crculver@aol.com>
> President Pro-Tempore of USEJ
> Prezidanto Dumtempa de USEJ
> --------------------------------------------------
> http://ttt.esperanto.org/us/USEJ/welcome.html
> 
> *More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/
> 
>-- End of excerpt from CRCulver@aol.com

	Well, I don't really think that Prufrock is about anything so Freudian
as inability to procreate or seduce--Prufrock's failure to declare his love for
the "That is not what I meant at all" woman is merely symptomatic.  I think the
epigraph from the Inferno is telling--this is a vision of Hell in life.
Prufrock is incapable of "disturbing the universe," of offering love, in
general of facing the transcendent--"I have seen the moment of my greatness
flicker,/ And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,/And in
short I was afraid."
	The poem is in the line that develops into "The Waste Land," a far more
complete vision of Hell in life, but with a hint of possible redemption, to the
explicitly religious vision of "Four Quartets."  
	As to relevance to PEACE, there's probably some in that Wolfe and Eliot
would have somewhat similar views of the theme of a man exploring his life, but
beyond that I'm not convinced.  It seems to me that PEACE is not concerned
precisely with Weer's inability to act or love, but with something more
difficult to grasp--something about the way the story of his life is really
other people's story.  I also would say that PEACE offers more hope for the
repose of the soul of Weer than "Prufrock" does for poor Prufrock.
	



-- 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce@eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/