Blicero

[rj]

t and then c sed

> >.... He is in Romantic
> >love with  death and extinction and in the novel he convenes
> >a sadistic routine against the War, in the end he seeks the
> >perverse solace of a "Deathkingdom," because his utter
> >contempt for Life is so powerful--like Milton's Satan when
> >he beholds Adam and Eve in Paradise--that he can only regard
> >life as "this cycle of infection (powerful theme in V.) and
> >Death," He wants literally to be "taken in love," but his
> >idea of Love is a mockery and a Reversal of what that term
> >means in the novel, and I think what that term, might
> >credibly imply. Blicero desires the Finality of Death, a
> >perverse solipsistic apocalypse. He is "the Zones worst
> >spectre." He is described by Polker as "diabolical." He is
> >the ultimate bureaucrat and the bureaucracy is death
> >institutionalized.
> >
> >more to come
> ------------
> what I don't get based on this argument of checking out of this cycle is why 
> does he send Gottfried up in the Rocket instead of himself--what, the 
> mystic's too chubby for cosmic enlightenment.
> And what about the claims of finding good ole Blic in the boardrooms of the 
> present--he's a survivor, hooked on the experiences of, say Gottfried during 
> that final flight of 00000--Interesting parallel with all the other themes 
> regarding fetishization. He gets a thrill over death, but someone else's 
> looks like to me.
> Not that he isn't one of the most interesting literary characters.


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It is not death -- murder, suicide, extinction, genocide etc -- but
transcendence which Blicero seeks through and for Gottfried: "a promise,
a prophecy, of Escape." (758.5up) It is his gift and his sacrifice. No
more Satanic or sadistic than the Christian myth, really.

Gottfried, right to the very end of the novel, "feels he must keep every
word, that none must be lost. Blicero's words have become precious to
him. He understands that Blicero wants to give, without expecting
anything back, give away what he loves. He believes that he exists for
Blicero ... " (721.6up)

best