The Book of Knots - Jags
The Book of Knots - Jags
The Book of Knots - Jags
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Publish or perish. PUBLISH or PERISH” over and over in a dark room<br />
lit with flickering, guttering candles. He’s mad.<br />
That’s a Caretaker.<br />
<strong>The</strong>ir existence is tied into a recursive feedback loop that generates the<br />
literary meanings and perspectives lead them to believe must be or which<br />
they speculate should be. Whether that last sentence is meaningless or<br />
not, one thing is clear: they argue a lot.<br />
But there’s something else—most Caretakers are in some fundamental<br />
way created from a perspective and a mass <strong>of</strong> arguments and an intellect.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y believe things are true and so they are. <strong>The</strong>y instruct. <strong>The</strong>y analyze.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y philosophize and they contemplate. All this is both the natural state<br />
<strong>of</strong> being and the responsibility <strong>of</strong> the Caretakers. <strong>The</strong>y are beings <strong>of</strong><br />
literal literature.<br />
But not all <strong>of</strong> them “hold <strong>of</strong>fice” and certainly most do not hold “high<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice.” In the bizarrely complicated network <strong>of</strong> hierarchy that is<br />
Wonderland society, there are those who could be considered assistants<br />
… apprentices … or students. <strong>The</strong>y are in some senses “younger”<br />
(although by any real measure they are “the same age,” so far as anyone<br />
knows) and they are in some senses “less powerful” (although the<br />
measure <strong>of</strong> power for a Caretaker is an odd thing). One thing they are is<br />
a lot less sure that the massive, towering structure that is the Criticism<br />
and Canon, that comprises the bedrock existence <strong>of</strong> Wonderland—is in<br />
any way right.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Caretakers who meet and scheme and formulate plans to tear it all<br />
down have a name. <strong>The</strong> rebel faction in Wonderland that threatens a low,<br />
rumbling, civil war has a banner: Deconstructionists.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea that “nothing intrinsically means anything”—that all viewpoints<br />
—author, interpreter, and beer-addled NASCAR-watching reality-TVjunkie<br />
commentary—is equally valid is the equivalent <strong>of</strong> Wonderland’s<br />
Global <strong>The</strong>rmonuclear War.<br />
<strong>The</strong> brewing internal conflict between the shadowy Deconstructionists<br />
(Decons) and the Caretakers is one that, if it sparks, could destroy the<br />
very fabric <strong>of</strong> creation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Enemy <strong>of</strong> My Enemy is a Useful Tool<br />
Not all the Caretakers hate humanity (some <strong>of</strong> the most dangerous are<br />
the ones who love humankind!) but it is generally considered amongst<br />
even the most beneficent that something really should be done for the<br />
poor things.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Deconstructionists, however, see things a little differently: they<br />
understand that the Department <strong>of</strong> Works is, in some fundamental way,<br />
connected to the shared perspective <strong>of</strong> man.<br />
13<br />
<strong>Book</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Knots</strong> - <strong>The</strong> Caretakers