GRGR(6) - The Empire's Suicide

[JL]

david m :
>
>Does this "suicide" mean incorporation of "the other," the conquered, into
>its fold, ultimately resulting in dissolution of the original purity of the
>Empire's noble race?    [ - s n i p - ]

Maybe. Later we'll come across the notion of suicide as a noble and 
'correct' moral option under certain circumstances, and this reading
certainly fits that bill.  

As for 'dreamless version of the real' (129.26) --
I think this answers the question asked in M&D about whether Britannia 
dreams about America: at this stage (1944/1973), the (British) Empire 
has no dreams. No goals, no ambition, just a pragmatic 'managed decline'.  
Pathology indeed; the question to ask might be whether it is inevitable.  
I'd use the phrase 'moral determinism' except that someone might ask me 
what it means ...

I feel the glimmer of a Theme here: parabolic rising and falling of personal
and mass desire as driving force of events; Quests which become self-serving 
or self-defeating as they peter out to be overtaken by the next (Empires 
rising from the ruins of others). Literally the 'Vaulting ambition, which 
o'erleaps itself' shown by Macbeth, and generally the fact that despite 
your best intentions, you ain't gonna end up where you think you will.
In your dreams.

Speaking of Ambition, I've just watched the von Braun documentary I mentioned
earlier.  A-and tho' I tried to be blasé, interviews with Mittelwerke inmates 
do kinda bring a lump to the throat.

JL
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  Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
  And rainbows have nothing to hide.
  So we've been told and some choose to believe it
  I know they're wrong, wait and see.

  Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,
  The lovers, the dreamers and me.

	   ( - from _The Muppet Movie_, sung by Kermit )
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