The Wounded Land, Chapter 1: Daughter

[dlbpharmd]

I'm not sure if we should hide the diamondraught, or reach for the mirkfruit.

j/k

[caamora]

I, also, read this more carefully this time around. Like you, danlo, I read it when it first came out some 20 years ago. Reading everyone's post, you are pointing out things I never caught! However, I find that I like Linden better this time around.

I'M FEELIN' THE LOVE!!!!!

[Fist and Faith]

*sways with b&b*
Finally, someone takes LOVE seriously!!

Come on in caam!!

[Furls Fire]

*gives up on her book, (it's been read before after all), sips some diamondraught, gets up and dances with Fist, b&b, and caam.*

"When love starts talkin' you got no choice, but to shut up and listen, it's a powerful voice..."

[Foamfollower1013]

She had come to this town because she wanted to try to help people like her parents. And because she wanted to prove that she could be effective under such circumstances - that she was not like her parents. And because she wanted to die.

Or I Will Sell My Soul For Guilt
a novel by
THOMAS COVENANT

There the road began to run through tilled valleys, between wooded hills. Beyond the town, the unseasonable heat and humidity were kinder to what they touched; they made the air lambent, so that it lay like immanence across the new crops, up the tangled weed-and-grass hillsides, among the budding trees; and her mood lifted at the way the landscape glowed in the approach of evening. She had spent so much of her life in cities. She continued to drive slowly; she wanted to savor the faint hope that she had found something she would be able to enjoy.

The old man was standing over her. His eyes were on her; the intense blue of his gaze held her like a hand of compassion. He looked impossibly tall and healthy; his very posture seemed to deny that he had ever been close to death. Gently, he reached down to her, drew her to her feet. As he put his arms around her, she slumped against him, unable to resist his embrace.

"Ah, my daughter, do not fear."

His voice was husky with regret and tenderness.

"You will not fail, however he may assail you. There is also love in the world."

Then he released her, stepped back. His eyes became commandments.

"Be true."

I'll reiterate that last one because I love it so much, and because we hear echoes of it throughout the rest of the books.

"Ah, my daughter, do not fear. You will not fail, however he may assail you. There is also love in the world.

"Be true."

----------------------

I'm with you, Furls. I would love to read Covenant's book. Or at the very least, I'd like to know what it's about...

~Foamy~

[Fist and Faith]

POWERFUL words, for sure!!!!! But then, you always pick the best parts to quote.

[srtrout]

Can anyone explain the situation with the people in the ochre robes? Maybe I missed it in previous sections of the "dissection".

Anyway, there are confusing references to these folks. They wear ochre robes, they hand out little phrases like "Jesus Saves", and participate in rituals. Those rituals mimic "Satanic" rituals and include self-mutilation, burning, etc.

On the other hand, the old guy who we think is the Creator also wears an ochre robe, doesn't he? He obviously is a "good guy" although he has traits similar to the "bad guys" including the robe and his rotten teeth.

So, some questions for those who are more expert with TCTC than me (I've read them only 5 times!).

1. Why are the old guy and the ochre guys similarly dressed ( or are they?)
2. Why does SRD portray these bad guys as right wing evangelists for Jesus and and also as Satanic? How does that fit into his background as a child of Christian missionaries?
3. Were the ochre people just misled locals? How did they ever get mixed up with the whole Foul-worship thing if he can't reach beyond the arch of time?

Spoiler

I realize there are some more tie-ins with the whole "tent-meeting" episode in the nest book.

As per my previous occasional posts, I have been very interested in the religious implications of this work, both as it relates to SRD's background and to how it relates to SRD's intent.

Go at it, experts!

Srtrout

ps. I'm a family doctor about Dr. Berenford's age in a small rural hospital - I wonder if Linden Avery needs a job? I always check female physicians for white gold wedding rings.

[Furls Fire]

The only one that wore an "ochre robe" was the Creator. The people in the cult all wore burlap, and the children wore gunnie sacks.

Also, the people in the cult actually thought they were worshipping Jesus. Foul is a mighty trickster and had them all believing Judgement Day was at hand. I actually liked the way SRD did this. There is fanaticism everywhere. Desperate people will believe anything if they feel they can be saved. They weren't even evangelists, it was more like they were brainwashed, like people in cults always are. A more subtle form of possession. I would say that they were definitely misled locals, seeking salvation. Foul preys on that kind of thing, he devours the desperate and the despairing. Easy targets.

Also, the Arch of Time isn't a barrier between worlds. If it was, then the first time Covenant was summoned it would have been destroyed. So, Foul crossing over and entering our world isn't surprising to me at all. In fact, I always wondered why it didn't happen before, in the 1st Chrons...

[duchess of malfi]

What amazes me in this chapter is how much pain and anger is in Linden...

She had no use for offers of salvation. She wanted nothing she did not earn.

But the note, combined with the turgid air, the long exertion of heaving her belongings up the stairs, and the apartment itself, left her feeling capable of murder.

She had been lonely ever since she could remember.

So now when she looked at herself, she saw severity, and the consequences of violence.

...nothing could have saved her parents. They had died because they were simply to ineffectual to go one living. Whenever she thought about such things, she seemed to feel her bones growing more brittle by the hour.

With a scowl she drove back the recollection. Her revulsion was so strong that she might have consented to having the memories physically cut out of her brain.

Anticipations of embarrassment filled her like shame. But she had been mortifying herself for so long that she had no respect left for the parts of her which could still feel shame.

And because she wanted to die.

The old man's appearance brought back memories of her own screaming which echoed in her ears as if it could never be silenced.

But also, Linden is strong!!!
and even through her pain, she can still feel compassion for others...

But the way she had lived her life had given her something more than lonliness and a liability of black moods. It had taught her to believe in her own strength. She was a physician; she had held life and death in her hands, and had learned how to grasp them effectively. She trusted her ability to carry burdens.

She had come to this town because she wanted to try to help people like her parents.

She was torn between visceral distaste and empathy.

Linden's heart ached uselessly at the sight of their moral and physical penury. There was nothing she could do for such people.

She continued to drive slowly; she wanted to savor the faint hope that she had found something she would be able to enjoy.

But his mouth was foul - carrious and vile, as if his teeth were rotten, or his palate gangrenous. She almost faltered. Instantly, her revulsion became an acute physical nausea, as if she were tasting the exudation of a boil. But she was a doctor; this was her work.

He did not breathe. His heart did not beat. His mouth was as foetid as the maw of a corpse. The whole ordeal was hopeless.
She did not relent.
All the blackness of her life was in her. She had spent too many years teaching herself to be effective against death; she could not surrender now. She had been too young, weak, and ignorant to save her father, and could not have saved her mother; now that she knew what to do and could do it, she would never quit, never falsify her life by quitting.
dark motes began to dance across her vision; the air swarmed with moisture and inadequacy. Her arms felt leaden; her lungs cried out every time she forced breath down the old man's throat. He lay inert. Tears of rage and need ran hotly down her face. Yet she did not relent.

How can you read that and question why she was Chosen?

[matrixman]

It's precisely that strength and vulnerability that makes Linden so vividly real and human to me. Despite the barren emotional conditions of her life, Linden chose not to let her loneliness destroy her. She found the strength to continue by giving herself to the healing of others; it's a reminder of Saltheart Foamfollower's adage about service enabling service. Linden doesn't surrender to her darkness, and the power of her service to her ideals sustains her against that darkness. So, indeed she is well-chosen!

Also, in this opening chapter you can already sense from the rhythm of his words, the tight flow of the sentences, that Donaldson is taking the Second Chronicles to another level of intensity. While the language is ornate, his narrative is brutally efficient: in a few short pages, from Linden's first appearance to the old man's, Donaldson has gotten you firmly in his grip.

Nah, I'm not adding anything new here, just putting in my two cents worth.

[danlo]

ca-ching!!!!