Camp Concentration/Book Two - Revision history

Eb: /* First section */ PKD

2026-07-28T17:12:56Z

First section: PKD

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	The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: {{cite article\|author=Todey, Amy Kincaid\|title=Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose.\|url=http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d\|publication=PsyArt\|date=May 1, 2012\|accessed=February 2, 2017}}</ref>		The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: {{cite article\|author=Todey, Amy Kincaid\|title=Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose.\|url=http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d\|publication=PsyArt\|date=May 1, 2012\|accessed=February 2, 2017}}</ref>

			It's possible that the deliberate semi-opacity of this section in particular is what attracted the paranoid attention of a person Disch knew slightly and admired: Philip K. Dick. In 1972, Dick—not yet in the full throes of the breakdown he fictionalized in ''Valis'', but already unstable and well acquainted with amphetamines—wrote to the FBI to claim that ''Camp Concentration'' contained coded messages for agents of an "anti-American organization" that had employed or coerced Disch for this purpose; that the organization claimed to have something like Pallidine for real ("an alleged new strain of syphilis sweeping the US, kept top secret by the US authorities; it can’t be cured, destroys the brain, and is swift-acting ... [it] is being brought in deliberately from Asia by agents of the enemy"), but that Dick knew it was just a hoax (an "imaginary paresis"); and that they had tried unsuccessfully to make Dick use this plot element in his own novels.{{ref Disch Redfern}} Disch did not find out about this at the time, but later he directed some cutting personal satire at the late Dick in both ''[[The Priest]]'' (1994) and ''The Word of God'' (2008).

	=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===		=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===

Eb at 06:46, 25 January 2025

2025-01-25T06:46:35Z

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	As his thought processes speed up, Sacchetti becomes lost in a flood of literary free-association. When he returns to a narrative form, all the other prisoners have died; Dr. Busk has disappeared; Haast has become reclusive; and the project is now run by Skilliman, a nihilist who has deliberately infected ''himself'' with Pallidine to speed up his own research. Skilliman plans to build weapons to destroy the human race, but unknown to him, it is already facing destruction by the outbreak of a general Pallidine epidemic. Just as Skilliman moves to eliminate Louis, rescue arrives from a hidden ally.		As his thought processes speed up, Sacchetti becomes lost in a flood of literary free-association. When he returns to a narrative form, all the other prisoners have died; Dr. Busk has disappeared; Haast has become reclusive; and the project is now run by Skilliman, a nihilist who has deliberately infected ''himself'' with Pallidine to speed up his own research. Skilliman plans to build weapons to destroy the human race, but unknown to him, it is already facing destruction by the outbreak of a general Pallidine epidemic. Just as Skilliman moves to eliminate Louis, rescue arrives from a hidden ally.

Eb at 23:59, 18 January 2025

2025-01-18T23:59:26Z

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	=== mute overthrownness ===		=== mute overthrownness ===
	From Rilke's third ''Duino Elegy''. "Overthrownness" is one translation of the German ''Gestürztsein'', which is rendered as "overthrow" in this translation: "Loved his inward world, his inner wilderness, / that first world within, on whose mute overthrow / his heart stood, newly green."<ref>Rilke, [http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Rilke.htm#anchor_Toc509812217 ~~''Duino Elegies'']. Translated by A.S. Kline~~, ~~2004.~~</ref> This passage describes a sleeper who is "fevered ... tangled in ever-spreading tendrils of inner event."		From Rilke's third ''Duino Elegy''. "Overthrownness" is one translation of the German ''Gestürztsein'', which is rendered as "overthrow" in this translation: "Loved his inward world, his inner wilderness, / that first world within, on whose mute overthrow / his heart stood, newly green."<ref>{{cite article\|author=Rilke, Rainer Maria\|translator=A.S. Kline\|title=The Duino Elegies\|url=http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/German/Rilke.htm#anchor_Toc509812217\|publication=Poetry in Translation\|pub-date=2004\|accessed=July 17, 2016}}</ref> This passage describes a sleeper who is "fevered ... tangled in ever-spreading tendrils of inner event."

	=== Chirico ===		=== Chirico ===

Eb at 23:54, 18 January 2025

2025-01-18T23:54:27Z

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	=== they flee roaring to and fro ===		=== they flee roaring to and fro ===
	From ''Doctor Faustus'', a description of what the damned experience in hell: "...it leaves its denizens only the choice between extreme cold and an extreme heat which can melt granite. Between these two states they flee roaring to and fro, for in the one the other always seems heavenly refreshment but is at once and in the most hellish meaning of the word intolerable."<ref>{{cite book\|~~name~~=Mann, Thomas\|date=1947\|translator=John E. Woods\|title=Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as Told by a Friend\|publisher=Vintage-Random House\|pub-date=1999\|isbn=9780375701160}}</ref>		From ''Doctor Faustus'', a description of what the damned experience in hell: "...it leaves its denizens only the choice between extreme cold and an extreme heat which can melt granite. Between these two states they flee roaring to and fro, for in the one the other always seems heavenly refreshment but is at once and in the most hellish meaning of the word intolerable."<ref>{{cite book\|author=Mann, Thomas\|date=1947\|translator=John E. Woods\|title=Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as Told by a Friend\|publisher=Vintage-Random House\|pub-date=1999\|isbn=9780375701160}}</ref>

	=== the Pumpkin and the Hollyhocks ===		=== the Pumpkin and the Hollyhocks ===
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	=== Birds of a strange nature ===		=== Birds of a strange nature ===
	From the opening scene of Thomas Mann's ''Death in Venice'', in which von Aschenbach has a waking dream as "his imagination ... pictured all the marvels and terrors of a manifold world which it was suddenly struggling to conceive."<ref>{{cite book\|~~name~~=Mann, Thomas\|date=1912\|translator=Kenneth Burke\|title=Death in Venice\|publisher=Knopf\|pub-date=1925}}</ref>		From the opening scene of Thomas Mann's ''Death in Venice'', in which von Aschenbach has a waking dream as "his imagination ... pictured all the marvels and terrors of a manifold world which it was suddenly struggling to conceive."<ref>{{cite book\|author=Mann, Thomas\|date=1912\|translator=Kenneth Burke\|title=Death in Venice\|publisher=Knopf\|pub-date=1925}}</ref>

	=== Vito Battista ===		=== Vito Battista ===
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	Given the earlier mention of de Lautréamont, the "hog" may refer to this passage from ''{{wp\|The Songs of Maldoror}}'':		Given the earlier mention of de Lautréamont, the "hog" may refer to this passage from ''{{wp\|The Songs of Maldoror}}'':

	<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>{{cite book\|~~name~~=Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse)\|translator=Guy Wernham\|date=1869\|title=Les Chants de Maldoror\|publisher=New Directions\|pub-date=1965}}</ref></blockquote>		<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>{{cite book\|author=Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse)\|translator=Guy Wernham\|date=1869\|title=Les Chants de Maldoror\|publisher=New Directions\|pub-date=1965}}</ref></blockquote>

	=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===		=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===

Eb at 23:43, 18 January 2025

2025-01-18T23:43:52Z

Eb at 23:10, 18 January 2025

2025-01-18T23:10:16Z

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	One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.		One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.

	The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: Todey, Amy Kincaid. [http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d ~~"Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose"]. ''PsyArt''.~~ PsyArt ~~Foundation,~~ May 1, 2012~~. Accessed~~ February 2, 2017.</ref>		The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: {{cite article\|name=Todey, Amy Kincaid\|title=Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose.\|url=http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d\|publication=PsyArt\|date=May 1, 2012\|accessed=February 2, 2017}}</ref>

	=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===		=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===
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	=== they flee roaring to and fro ===		=== they flee roaring to and fro ===
	From ''Doctor Faustus'', a description of what the damned experience in hell: "...it leaves its denizens only the choice between extreme cold and an extreme heat which can melt granite. Between these two states they flee roaring to and fro, for in the one the other always seems heavenly refreshment but is at once and in the most hellish meaning of the word intolerable."<ref>Mann, Thomas. ''Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as Told by a Friend~~''. 1947. Translated by John E. Woods,~~ Vintage-Random House, 1999.</ref>		From ''Doctor Faustus'', a description of what the damned experience in hell: "...it leaves its denizens only the choice between extreme cold and an extreme heat which can melt granite. Between these two states they flee roaring to and fro, for in the one the other always seems heavenly refreshment but is at once and in the most hellish meaning of the word intolerable."<ref>{{cite book\|name=Mann, Thomas\|date=1947\|translator=John E. Woods\|title=Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as Told by a Friend\|publisher=Vintage-Random House\|pub-date=1999\|isbn=9780375701160}}</ref>

	=== the Pumpkin and the Hollyhocks ===		=== the Pumpkin and the Hollyhocks ===

Eb at 08:10, 5 February 2021

2021-02-05T08:10:18Z

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	{{SummaryCollapsed \|		{{SummaryCollapsed \|
	As his thought processes speed up, Sacchetti becomes lost in a flood of literary free-association. When he returns to a narrative form, all the other prisoners have died; Dr. Busk has disappeared; Haast has become reclusive; and the project is now run by Skilliman, a nihilist who has deliberately infected ''himself'' with Pallidine to speed up his own research. Skilliman plans to build weapons to destroy the human race, but unknown to him, it is already facing destruction by the outbreak of a general Pallidine epidemic. Just as Skilliman moves to eliminate Louis, rescue arrives from a hidden ally.		As his thought processes speed up, Sacchetti becomes lost in a flood of literary free-association. When he returns to a narrative form, all the other prisoners have died; Dr. Busk has disappeared; Haast has become reclusive; and the project is now run by Skilliman, a nihilist who has deliberately infected ''himself'' with Pallidine to speed up his own research. Skilliman plans to build weapons to destroy the human race, but unknown to him, it is already facing destruction by the outbreak of a general Pallidine epidemic. Just as Skilliman moves to eliminate Louis, rescue arrives from a hidden ally.

Eb at 01:17, 10 January 2021

2021-01-10T01:17:22Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:17, 9 January 2021
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	One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.		One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.

	The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (~~i.e.~~ the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (~~i.e.~~ "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: Todey, Amy Kincaid. [http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d "Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose"]. ''PsyArt''. PsyArt Foundation, May 1, 2012. Accessed February 2, 2017.</ref>		The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: Todey, Amy Kincaid. [http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d "Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose"]. ''PsyArt''. PsyArt Foundation, May 1, 2012. Accessed February 2, 2017.</ref>

	=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===		=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===

Eb: /* HEAVENLY REFRESHMENTS */

2018-02-25T04:05:23Z

HEAVENLY REFRESHMENTS

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	<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse). ''Les Chants de Maldoror''. 1869. Translated by Guy Wernham, New Directions, 1965.</ref></blockquote>		<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse). ''Les Chants de Maldoror''. 1869. Translated by Guy Wernham, New Directions, 1965.</ref></blockquote>

	~~=== HEAVENLY REFRESHMENTS ===~~
	~~Refers to the same ''Doctor Faustus'' passage cited [[#they flee roaring to and fro\|earlier]].~~

	=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===		=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===

Eb: /* Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears */

2018-02-11T20:44:02Z

Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:44, 11 February 2018
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	=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===		=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===
	Unknown. With its words that don't exist in any language but that use tantalizingly almost-English letter patterns, this looks very much like it might be a substitution cipher; however, these days computer software makes it easy to prove ~~(especially with the two longer words)~~ that there isn't any letter substitution that would make this into an English phrase. This is unsurprising: using such a simple code, just to dare readers to solve it, would have made no sense in terms of the story—since Louis is aware that Camp Archimedes uses computers to scan for any hidden meaning in the prisoners' writings. Instead, the point may have been to create something that looks like a solvable puzzle ~~(double letters are a major clue in any simple cipher)~~, but isn't. This could be seen as Disch toying with his readers, or Louis toying with his captors... or Louis thinking on a level that we can't access.		Unknown. With its words that don't exist in any language but that use tantalizingly almost-English letter patterns, this looks very much like it might be a substitution cipher (and double letters are a major clue in any simple cipher); however, these days computer software makes it easy to prove that there isn't any letter substitution that would make this into an English phrase. This is unsurprising: using such a simple code, just to dare readers to solve it, would have made no sense in terms of the story—since Louis is aware that Camp Archimedes uses computers to scan for any hidden meaning in the prisoners' writings. Instead, the point may have been to create something that looks like a solvable puzzle, but isn't. This could be seen as Disch toying with his readers, or Louis toying with his captors... or Louis thinking on a level that we can't access.

	The science fiction author and editor David Langford seems to agree that this phrase isn't meaningful (or at least to concede defeat), since he included it in a list of "nonsense phrases" from fantasy literature in his piece "Logrolling Ephesus".<ref>Langford, David. "Logrolling Ephesus". ''The Thackeray T. Lamsbhead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases''. Ed. Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts. Night Shade Books, 2003. ISBN 1892389541</ref>		The science fiction author and editor David Langford seems to agree that this phrase isn't meaningful (or at least to concede defeat), since he included it in a list of "nonsense phrases" from fantasy literature in his piece "Logrolling Ephesus".<ref>Langford, David. "Logrolling Ephesus". ''The Thackeray T. Lamsbhead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases''. Ed. Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts. Night Shade Books, 2003. ISBN 1892389541</ref>

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:43, 18 January 2025
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	One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.		One author surprisingly omitted from this list (but named in the dedication of the novel) is {{wp\|Thomas Mann}}, whose ''[[wikipedia:Doctor Faustus (novel)\|Doctor Faustus]]'' (1947) is very prominent throughout the rest of ''Camp Concentration''. In Mann's retelling of the Faust legend, the composer Leverkühn becomes an artistic genius while gradually losing his mental and physical health due to syphilis; he believes that he intentionally acquired the disease for this purpose, as part of a deal with the Devil, who explains that the spirochete bacteria are the agents of this transaction. Whenever ''Doctor Faustus'' is cited from here on it is the Mann novel, not the Marlowe play.

	The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: {{cite article\|~~name~~=Todey, Amy Kincaid\|title=Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose.\|url=http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d\|publication=PsyArt\|date=May 1, 2012\|accessed=February 2, 2017}}</ref>		The citation of "the second part of ''The Romance of the Rose''" as an "alchemic text" deserves some explanation. This 13th-century French poem, describing courtly love and its associated virtues and vices, begins as a fairly straightforward allegory of the lover and the object of his desire; but its much longer second book, contributed by a different author, wanders somewhat from this subject and adds a large cast of characters personifying various intangible forces. This has led some scholars to look for deeper symbolic content in the second book—including, inevitably, assertions that it is an alchemical allegory either in the standard sense (that the author was referring to acts of physical magic, but being very indirect to hide this from uninitiated readers), or in the broader sense [[wikipedia:Psychology and Alchemy\|proposed by Carl Jung]] (that "alchemy" was really an early attempt to understand psychological archetypes).<ref>For instance: {{cite article\|author=Todey, Amy Kincaid\|title=Self, Psyche and Symbolism in the Roman de la Rose.\|url=http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/todey-self_psyche_and_symbolism_in_the_roman_d\|publication=PsyArt\|date=May 1, 2012\|accessed=February 2, 2017}}</ref>

	=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===		=== doleful voices and rushings to and fro ===
Line 40:		Line 40:

	=== Birds of a strange nature ===		=== Birds of a strange nature ===
	From the opening scene of Thomas Mann's ''Death in Venice'', in which von Aschenbach has a waking dream as "his imagination ... pictured all the marvels and terrors of a manifold world which it was suddenly struggling to conceive."<ref>Mann, Thomas~~. ''~~Death in Venice~~''. 1912. Translated by Kenneth Burke,~~ Knopf, 1925.</ref>		From the opening scene of Thomas Mann's ''Death in Venice'', in which von Aschenbach has a waking dream as "his imagination ... pictured all the marvels and terrors of a manifold world which it was suddenly struggling to conceive."<ref>{{cite book\|name=Mann, Thomas\|date=1912\|translator=Kenneth Burke\|title=Death in Venice\|publisher=Knopf\|pub-date=1925}}</ref>

	=== Vito Battista ===		=== Vito Battista ===
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	Given the earlier mention of de Lautréamont, the "hog" may refer to this passage from ''{{wp\|The Songs of Maldoror}}'':		Given the earlier mention of de Lautréamont, the "hog" may refer to this passage from ''{{wp\|The Songs of Maldoror}}'':

	<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse)~~. ''~~Les Chants de Maldoror~~''. 1869. Translated by Guy Wernham,~~ New Directions, 1965.</ref></blockquote>		<blockquote>I dreamed I had entered into the body of a hog ... Was this a reward? I no longer belonged to humanity, one of my greatest desires! .... There was not remaining the least morsel of divinity.<ref>{{cite book\|name=Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore-Lucien Ducasse)\|translator=Guy Wernham\|date=1869\|title=Les Chants de Maldoror\|publisher=New Directions\|pub-date=1965}}</ref></blockquote>

	=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===		=== ''Gra netiglluk ende firseiglie blears'' ===
	Unknown. With its words that don't exist in any language but that use tantalizingly almost-English letter patterns, this looks very much like it might be a substitution cipher (and double letters are a major clue in any simple cipher); however, these days computer software makes it easy to prove that there isn't any letter substitution that would make this into an English phrase. This is unsurprising: using such a simple code, just to dare readers to solve it, would have made no sense in terms of the story—since Louis is aware that Camp Archimedes uses computers to scan for any hidden meaning in the prisoners' writings. Instead, the point may have been to create something that looks like a solvable puzzle, but isn't. This could be seen as Disch toying with his readers, or Louis toying with his captors... or Louis thinking on a level that we can't access.		Unknown. With its words that don't exist in any language but that use tantalizingly almost-English letter patterns, this looks very much like it might be a substitution cipher (and double letters are a major clue in any simple cipher); however, these days computer software makes it easy to prove that there isn't any letter substitution that would make this into an English phrase. This is unsurprising: using such a simple code, just to dare readers to solve it, would have made no sense in terms of the story—since Louis is aware that Camp Archimedes uses computers to scan for any hidden meaning in the prisoners' writings. Instead, the point may have been to create something that looks like a solvable puzzle, but isn't. This could be seen as Disch toying with his readers, or Louis toying with his captors... or Louis thinking on a level that we can't access.

	The science fiction author and editor David Langford seems to agree that this phrase isn't meaningful (or at least to concede defeat), since he included it in a list of "nonsense phrases" from fantasy literature in his piece "Logrolling Ephesus".<ref>Langford, David. "Logrolling Ephesus". ''The Thackeray T. Lamsbhead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases''. Ed. Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts. Night Shade Books, 2003. ISBN 1892389541</ref>		The science fiction author and editor David Langford seems to agree that this phrase isn't meaningful (or at least to concede defeat), since he included it in a list of "nonsense phrases" from fantasy literature in his piece "Logrolling Ephesus".<ref>Langford, David. "Logrolling Ephesus". ''The Thackeray T. Lamsbhead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases''. Ed. Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts. Night Shade Books, 2003. {{ISBN\|1892389541}}</ref>

	== Entry 6 ==		== Entry 6 ==
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	=== St. Denis is the patron saint of syphilitics—and of Paris ===		=== St. Denis is the patron saint of syphilitics—and of Paris ===
	Numerous possible explanations for this fact<ref>Morton, R.S. [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1047451/?page=1 ~~"St. Denis Patron Saint of Syphilitics"]. ''~~British Journal of Venereal Diseases~~'',~~ 37~~. May 12, 1961.~~</ref> include the idea that Europeans generally thought of syphilis as a French disease. St. Denis also fits in ''Camp Concentration'' in other ways: he is often confused with [[Camp Concentration/Book_One: June 16 to June 22#Abbot Suger was especially keen on Dionysius\|Pseudo-Dionysius]], and he is reputed to have walked for six miles after being decapitated—carrying his severed head and continuing to speak, as Louis is metaphorically doing now while his own brain gradually dies.		Numerous possible explanations for this fact<ref>{{cite article\|author=Morton, R.S.\|date=May 12, 1961\|title=St. Denis Patron Saint of Syphilitics\|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1047451/?page=1\|publication=British Journal of Venereal Diseases\|pub-date=37}}</ref> include the idea that Europeans generally thought of syphilis as a French disease. St. Denis also fits in ''Camp Concentration'' in other ways: he is often confused with [[Camp Concentration/Book_One: June 16 to June 22#Abbot Suger was especially keen on Dionysius\|Pseudo-Dionysius]], and he is reputed to have walked for six miles after being decapitated—carrying his severed head and continuing to speak, as Louis is metaphorically doing now while his own brain gradually dies.

	== Entry 13 ==		== Entry 13 ==
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	Sacchetti's thoughts on how Pallidine would spread through society are in some respects dated and offensive: he lists "sex crimes" as one of the "areas where homosexuality is thickest," but this is only true in the sense that homosexuality itself has often been illegal; in the usual sense of assault and molestation, it is a myth.<ref>Herek, Gregory M. [http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html "Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation"]. ''Sexual Orientation: Science, Education, and Policy''. UC Davis Department of Psychology. Accessed July 17, 2016.</ref> It's hard to say how much this is a reflection of Sacchetti's own [[Camp Concentration/Book One: May#in Genet, for instance\|less than enlightened attitudes]] and how much is simply Disch reflecting the beliefs of his time.		Sacchetti's thoughts on how Pallidine would spread through society are in some respects dated and offensive: he lists "sex crimes" as one of the "areas where homosexuality is thickest," but this is only true in the sense that homosexuality itself has often been illegal; in the usual sense of assault and molestation, it is a myth.<ref>Herek, Gregory M. [http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html "Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation"]. ''Sexual Orientation: Science, Education, and Policy''. UC Davis Department of Psychology. Accessed July 17, 2016.</ref> It's hard to say how much this is a reflection of Sacchetti's own [[Camp Concentration/Book One: May#in Genet, for instance\|less than enlightened attitudes]] and how much is simply Disch reflecting the beliefs of his time.

	However, in a way, Disch predicted the early years of the AIDS epidemic—a disease whose first known case in the U.S., though not recognized at the time, appeared only two years after ''Camp Concentration''.<ref>Kolata, Gina. [http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/28/us/boy-s-1969-death-suggests-aids-invaded-us-several-times.html ~~"Boy's 1969 Death Suggests AIDS Invaded U.S. Several Times"]. ''~~New York Times~~''. October 28, 1987. Accessed~~ July 17, 2016.</ref> HIV did spread disproportionately through the gay and bisexual population, and in urban cultural centers it decimated another of the "areas" Louis mentions, the performing arts. As Sacchetti says, the fact that syphilis, the only ''dangerous'' sexually transmitted disease most people were aware of, could be treated with antibiotics, and that non-barrier methods of birth control were fairly effective, meant that most people—regardless of sexual preference—regarded condoms as unnecessary. Medical science was somewhat aware that an untreatable disease transmitted through blood or sexual contact could be a very serious problem, based on the example of hepatitis B (HBV), but this was not seen as a major public health priority—and one of the many failures in the early response to AIDS was the failure to apply what was already known about the epidemiology and prevention of HBV.		However, in a way, Disch predicted the early years of the AIDS epidemic—a disease whose first known case in the U.S., though not recognized at the time, appeared only two years after ''Camp Concentration''.<ref>{{cite article\|author=Kolata, Gina\|date=October 28, 1987\|title=Boy's 1969 Death Suggests AIDS Invaded U.S. Several Times\|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/28/us/boy-s-1969-death-suggests-aids-invaded-us-several-times.html\|publication=New York Times\|accessed=July 17, 2016}}</ref> HIV did spread disproportionately through the gay and bisexual population, and in urban cultural centers it decimated another of the "areas" Louis mentions, the performing arts. As Sacchetti says, the fact that syphilis, the only ''dangerous'' sexually transmitted disease most people were aware of, could be treated with antibiotics, and that non-barrier methods of birth control were fairly effective, meant that most people—regardless of sexual preference—regarded condoms as unnecessary. Medical science was somewhat aware that an untreatable disease transmitted through blood or sexual contact could be a very serious problem, based on the example of hepatitis B (HBV), but this was not seen as a major public health priority—and one of the many failures in the early response to AIDS was the failure to apply what was already known about the epidemiology and prevention of HBV.

	HIV and HBV have already taken a horrible toll, but there are plausible reasons for a Pallidine epidemic to be even worse: Pallidine is invariably fatal within a year; its victims, before they become debilitated, are manic and grandiose, so it's easy to imagine them following Dr. Busk's example and having as much sex as possible; and most importantly, neither HIV nor HBV is nearly as contagious as syphilis.		HIV and HBV have already taken a horrible toll, but there are plausible reasons for a Pallidine epidemic to be even worse: Pallidine is invariably fatal within a year; its victims, before they become debilitated, are manic and grandiose, so it's easy to imagine them following Dr. Busk's example and having as much sex as possible; and most importantly, neither HIV nor HBV is nearly as contagious as syphilis.