From: jaeger@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger)
Newsgroups: alt.music.rush
Subject: Re: The Necromancer
Date: 30 Jul 92 22:00:15 GMT
Organization: Boston University Physics Department





>A while back there was some talk about "A Farewell to Kings,"
>"Beneath, Between, & Behind," and "Bastille Day."  This brought to
>mind something about "The Necromancer" that I've thought about for 
>quite some time, but have never seen mentioned.

>A long time ago in the NMS there was a discussion about the
>Necromancer and who each of the characters is and where the story
>takes place.


>Goode's World Atlas confirms that there is indeed a Don River flowing
>south through the heart of Toronto.


>If we accept that the 3 travellers are indeed the members of Rush, and
>that the references to Willow Dale and the Dawn/Don River are intended
>to indicate the Toronto area, when they ford the river and turn
>south, just where are they headed?  To the U.S.A., of course (though 
>they have to around Lake Ontario to get there).  That's right, "the
>dark and forbidding lands of the Necromancer" are the freakin' U. S.
>of A.!!!!

>Lots of questions can be inferred at this point:  did Peart 
>specifically choose south to imply that the U.S. is the world's 
>bogeyman?  Does Peart have latent anti-U.S. feelings?  Or is he
>merely reflecting the feelings of the Canadian populace?  Or is he 
>reflecting his perceptions of the feelings of the Canadians?  Is this
>feeling strictly in regards to U.S. military might (and the
>willingness to use it)?  Or does it also refer to Canadian economy and
>culture being overwhelmed by U.S. influences?


I doubt that it is any of the above, myself:


>If you look at the song in that light, it kind of fits in with Gregg 
>Jaeger's and Jim Chokey's discussion of an "aristocratic past vs. 
>democratic present" in AFTK, BB&B, and BD.  Which only makes sense,
>since all of the songs being discussed are from the same general time
>period.

>All of the other interpretations of "The Necromancer" that I have seen
>compare it to "The Lord of the Rings."  The fact that the "dark
>lands" might be the USA is a new twist.  Seventeen years and hundreds
>of listenings after it was written, Peart never ceases to amaze.


Hmmm. It seems to me that all of the above extrapolations depend on
one thing: that the river flows south. If it flowed _east_ then he'd
be talking about Quebec (hmmm, even _more_ interesting, eh?). It 
seems to me to all boil down to whether or not the story is to
be understood figuratively or not. As I say, I doubt that it is.
If there were _some_ political aspects, as in the case of ``The Trees,'' 
``BB&B,'' or even ``2112,'' then it might seem more plausible.


A good question is whether or not there is some similar river
in _TLoR_ which flows south!


>And another thing:  How can silence shroud the forest and the birds 
>announce the dawn at the same time?  :-)


First silence shrouds the forest, _then_ the birds announce the dawn., :>



Gregg



-- 
Gregg Jaeger    (jaeger@buphy.bu.edu)     | Tristero?   ______/|/|  Treestero?
Dept(s). of Physics (and Philosophy)      ------------    (_) \|\|  Trystero?
Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Ave.,Boston MA 02215 --------------------- 

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