Limbo by Bernard Wolfe

Author:Bernard Wolfe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

1 Babyface: Teddy Gorman (Theo). Even when he was unconscious and close to death, there was about his face something shining and incorruptible which came through the blood and grime. It was this, no doubt, which prompted Brother Martine to use such a term of endearment. —Helder.

2 The comparison is too complimentary: Brother Martine’s friendship sometimes blinded him to my shortcomings. The truth of the matter is that, during all the months I worked with young Teddy Gorman in Tri-P (the Peace Pledge Program) I found his selfless ardor a constant source of inspiration, but hardly equaled it myself. —Helder.

3 A brilliant and insightful suggestion, entirely characteristic of Brother Martine’s quick grasp of the profoundest spiritual truths. After the war, when Teddy Gorman and I began to organize the peace movement again, I reminded him of these words and pointed out that, since Martine had given him his life, it was only fitting that our great martyr should be allowed to give him his name too. From that time on he has been known by the infinitely more meaningful name of Theo. —Helder.

4 I apparently neglected to mention to Brother Martine that I too suffered quite badly from insomnia in those days. On the night of October 18, although Brother Martine could not possibly have known this, I was able to sleep only thanks to a triple dose of barbiturates. —Helder.

5 Here and there Brother Martine expresses himself in a gruff soldier’s vernacular. The form of such references must not be confused with their content: what looked like sheer viciousness on the surface was, more often than not, tremulous love underneath, a love which we found it hard to express forthrightly under the brutalizing circumstances of war. Not the least argument against war is precisely this, that it does not allow men to express their love for each other warmly and directly. —Helder.

6 I did sometimes have considerable difficulty in nocturnal breathing, due to a severe sinus infection which produced a chronic post-nasal drip and catarrhal congestion of the upper respiratory tract. I had mentioned this condition to Brother Martine once or twice, but apparently he had forgotten it. —Helder.

7 The passage in question, from Wiener’s The Human Use of Human Beings, reads as follows:

“Mr. Shannon has presented some reasons why his researches may be of more importance than the mere design of a curiosity, interesting only to those who are playing a game. Among these possibilities, he suggests that such a machine may be the first step in the construction of a machine to evaluate military situations and to determine the best move at any specific stage. Let no man think that he is talking lightly. The great book of von Neumann and Morgenstern on the theory of games has made a profound impression on the world, and not least in Washington. When Mr. Shannon speaks of the development of military tactics, he is not talking moonshine, but is discussing a most imminent and dangerous contingency.” —Helder.

8 In this passage from Strategy in Poker, Business and War:

“In military affairs the theory of games is .

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