From: "Jeff Veyera" 
Subject: (urth) PEACE: What happened to everybody else?
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 16:35:41 -0700

The recent thread on Mr Tilly and the discoveries made regarding oranges
(especially his propensity for injecting oranges with drugs) have made me
wonder again what real or perceived calamity befell humanity in Weer's
present.  This is referred to consistently throughout, and buttressed
perhaps by the Irish folktale at the very end of the novel.  What is Wolfe's
game here?

There seems to be a lot more going on in that plant than meets the eye, what
with the very odd treatment of the reporter and that ghost story.

I was also struck by the comment that the plant opening caused a glut in the
potato market in the area.  Aside from using potatoes to make vodka (a key
component in the screwdrivers Weer favors) and the potential that the plant
is also a distillery, why should this be?  Is a key juice ingredient
extracted from potatoes?


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