Volltext - ub-dok: der Dokumentenserver der UB Trier - Universität ...

and finally to his readiness to expose his own life to protect Dmitri, Ly Keang, and others.
These actions always won for Langford the admiration of his fellows. Though few were
willing to follow his example, many were keen on making him into a legendary, even
mythological figure.
The contradictions in Langford’s character can be explained by this rendering of history
into myth, and also by the fact that this story is not yet completed. Langford dies, but Koch,
like Blanche d’Alpuget with Alex Wheatfield, leaves no doubt in the mind of the narrator that
he lives on, and his story will continue. One last, subtle clue of his hybrid Eastern/Western
role lies barely hidden in his name. Michael comes from the Hebrew ‘Mikael’, meaning ‘who
is like God’ (Morris, 828); as the one who must supplicate himself before Kali to bring her
terror to an end, he can be compared with Jesus Christ, the agnus dei of Christian tradition.
Yet, for Mike Langford, destiny has chosen a role to stay in the birth-death cycle as a
‘Crossing-Maker’ or ‘Ford-Maker’. He is to help others realise themselves, yet fording the
stream to the ‘yonder shore’ is, for the man surnamed Langford, an especially long crossing.
13.9. Conclusion
The argumentation of this chapter has been directed towards this final point, that Mike
Langford has an essential role in upholding the cosmic order, along the lines foreseen for man
in the ancient Vedas of respecting the requirements for sacrifice. In order to reach this
conclusion, it has been necessary, first, to debunk the De-orientalist criticism which makes
Koch an expropriator of Eastern symbols and metaphors, and a nostalgic re-writer of history.
Second, this chapter has endeavoured to demonstrate Koch’s spin on the greater question of
what history really is, a troubling issue which is central to the Australian sense of identity. It
then has been able to present Mike Langford as the completion of an ontology which Koch has
developed throughout his Asian novels, drawing from many ancient and recent sources, and
from both Eastern and Western traditions. It cannot be denied that Koch does not hesitate to
mix his pretexts together, but while this may be called ‘distortion’ by some purists, this is
really the bricolage which must be allowed any artist as part of the creative process.
- 369 -