Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:46:05 -0600
From: James Jordan 
Subject: Re: Hour of Trust (was Re: (urth) The Best Introduction to the

At 09:14 AM 1/31/2002, you wrote:
>on 1/30/02 10:45 AM, James Jordan at jbjordan4@home.com wrote:
>
> > Does he? In "Hour of Trust" (*Island of Dr. Death etc.*) Wolfe
> > himself joins a rebellion reciting the Lord's Prayer.
>
>It's not clear to me why you think the bald man reciting the Lord's Prayer
>is Wolfe, or even why you think Wolfe approves of the rebellion.  Among
>other things, the bald man is a suicide bomber, and while Wolfe as a
>Catholic might approve of rebellion under some circumstances, I doubt he
>could approve of suicide, which is definitely a sin.  Moreover, the
>recruiting centers for volunteers include not only Buddhist spiritual
>centers, which Wolfe might possibly be ecumenical enough to approve of, but
>a temple of Kali (166, Orb edition), which he almost certainly isn't.  And
>the government against which they're rebelling is portrayed as incompetent,
>but not tyrannical.

         I stand corrected! Sure, it's got to be Wolfe, but Wolfe is 
clearly making a joke on himself.


>It's a strange story anyway, and one which I think has been dismissed too
>readily (myself included).  I remembered it as just an anti-corporation
>tract, and it is that, but it may also be the Wolfe story which wears its
>modernist mannerisms most boldly on its sleeve, aside from jeux d'esprit
>like Parkroads.  (And I have to admit that it was only on this reading that
>I realized where the story was taking place.)

         I'd like to return to this story at some point. There's a lot of 
interesting setup stuff in the early part, perhaps "the four corners of the 
world" by allusion. I think this is a "packed" story.

Nutria


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