Unnamed Circumnavigators

Submitted by mdennis@ku.edu on Thu, 2018-10-04 14:55
Text: 
"A Name for the City"
Character Key: 
Unnamed Circumnavigators
Display Name: 
Unnamed Circumnavigators
Sort Name: 
Unnamed Circumnavigators
Race: 
White
Gender: 
Male
Class: 
MultiClass Group
Rank: 
Peripheral
Vitality: 
Alive
Occupation: 
Other
Specific Job: 
Explorers
First Mentioned: 
County Jail in "A Name for the City" (Location)
Biography: 

The narrator's Uncle, Gavin Stevens, begins this story with by referring to the "world travelers" who made history by circumnavigating the globe, from the first ones, who did it in "three years" (he is referring to Magellan's voyage in a sailing ship, 1519-1522), to the ones who did it in "ninety hours" (he is referring to the crew of the US Air Force B-50 bomber who made the trip in 1949); Gavin wrongly adds that "now" - when the story was published, presumably - the feat has been accomplished in "thirty hours" (200). Stevens refers to these "tense and furious circumnavigators" a bit dismissively, to set up a comparison with the poet Homer, who exemplifies the more impressive capacity of the human heart to "plumb and chart the ultimate frontiers" while remaining in one place (200).

Note: 
CUT: a vague reference to the Magellan-Elcano expedition (c. 1588). He then lists what he pretends to know as the most rapid naval and air circumnavigations of the world, down to an imagined present day seeker of the newest record. Implicitly, Stevens' speech of disdain for all contemporary competitors, including the imaginary current aspirant, frames his nephew's story of the more dangerous, humorous, and moving achievements of the Mississippi settlement's mail rider, Pettigrew.
Individual or Group: 
Group
Character changes class in this text: 

digyok:node/character/18561