TG&SS Some Analytic Comments 53

The Great and Secret Show is a horror-fantasy novel. It was not written to be true and should not be taken as such.

However, it was written as an analog to modern life, as a model that serves as an entertaining warning to the reader. Parts VI and VII of the novel have fantastic scenes of great imagination that may appear to have little to do with reality. But they demonstrate the quiddity model at work in a way that remains an analog, and they continuously demonstrate new lessons which are consonant with the lessons presented earlier in the book.

What happens is that the egotistical greed of the Jaff, assisted by the manipulation of his son and the stolen energy of fear represented by the terata, are able to disturb Quiddity, the qualitative axis of the universe. This disruption creates an opportunity for Chaos, the Iad Uroboros, to cross the Sea of Quiddity to the Isle of Ephemeris and enter our ordinary world.

We have already learned that our “ordinary” world is full of horrors and been given lessons which fit our ordinary existence without any Nuncio, visions, shamans, or newly born gods like the Jaff or Fletcher. The lessons will continue for the rest of Part V and all of Part VII.

There are things to ponder that are bigger than the lessons. Perhaps we could call them major plot threads. One important but nearly invisible thread involves the death of Carolyn by suicide after the horrific suffocation of her child. This murder-suicide bears the weight of heavy meditation and analysis. This is true for many reasons, including the following view. If the plot is believable about the advance of the Jaff and the fight between good and evil, then it is important that a child was stillborn and important that Carolyn's child, the child of the Jaff, did not survive to assist the Jaff and Tommy-Ray. This means that Carolyn's horrific deed helped the fictional world designed by Clive Barker. This is a frightening insight that remains frightening when we read those gruesome rare newspaper stories about infanticide.

Another thread has to do with the strange woman in the desert, who is trapped in Kissoon's time loop. Tesla has rescued her without verifying her credentials and brought her back to Los Angeles. The next synopsis, Part VI chapter 7, deals with the amazing story the desert woman has to tell. It will upset the judgments and notions of some of Barker's readers, which was the author's exact intention.