Introduction
The figure of Thompson permeates all of Ben Marcus' work, but nowhere as forcefully or mysteriously as in The Age of Wire and String.
In all cases, Thompson is a benevolent figure working toward human survival in the face of existential threats. Thompson is sometimes portrayed as a human and sometimes portrayed as godlike. Sometimes there are multiple Thompsons. Sometimes there are varying levels of Thompson in everyone.
In The Age of Wire and String, Thompson is described as a controlling spirit or force with a body (Perkins), though not dependent on the body. Thompson seems to have worked out the rules for survival in The Age of Wire and String. These are based on a Thompsonian system of silence, blindness, stillness.
Thompson is not an all-knowing figure but seems to have developed various survival systems over time. Thompson's approach is always based on cataloging, defining, and rule-making.
Stith Thompson and the Motif-Index of Folk Literature
Stith Thompson (1885-1976) was an American scholar of folklore. He is the developer, along with Antti Arne, of the Aarne-Thompson classification system, which gave rise to Thompson's massive
Motif-Index of Folk Literature: a work of six volumes which is considered the international key to recurring motifs in traditional material.
Ben Marcus has explicitly stated that the work of Stith Thompson has been influential on his, Marcus', writing. It's easy to see why. A search for "wind" in the motif-index returns results such as:
- A1122.1: Hole of winds: stopper destroyed. The hole is stopped with a wooden stopper, which is destroyed. The country dries up.
- A1122.2: Wind a bird dwelling in mountain-hole.
- A1122.3: Lost wind found in hollow tree: has been banished and is needed by men.
The parallels between Stith Thompson and Marcus' Thompson are undeniable. Both figures work relentlessly to catalog and define the uncatalogable and undefinable. Both are mysterious and inscrutable.
Resources
References to Thompson in The Age of Wire and String
From
The Death of Water. pg 11.
"...Death was realized in 1807 in the water as a new erosion by Carolina and by England and
Thompson; it was named for the hills and swells in Deerborne, which had been killed
only two years earlier.
From
Terms. pg 24.
"TREASURE OF POSSIBLE ENUNCIATIONS: Catalog of first, last, and indeterminate lexia. It includes all possible words and their unutterable opposites. Other than
Thompson's Bank of Communicable Desire, no other such comprehensive system exists."
From
Terms. pg 24.
"GOD CHARGE: Amount or degree of
Thompson occurring in a person or shelter."
From
Terms. pg 25.
"THE FIEND: [...] Any aspect of
Thompson which
Thompson cannot control.
From
Terms. pg 25.
"GOD-BURNING SYSTEM: Method of
Thompsonian self-immolation. For each
Thompson, there exist flammable outcrops or limbs which rub onto the larger body of
Thompson (Perkins) rendering morning fires and emberage that lights the sky and advances the time of a given society or culture."
From
Terms. pg 26.
"PERKINS: 1. Term given to the body of
Thompson in order that his physical form never desecrate his own name. 2. The god of territory."
From
Terms. pg 27.
"LEGAL PRAYER: [...] Let a justifiable message be herewith registered in regard to desires and thoughts appertaining to what will be unnamed divinities, be they bird forms or other atmo bestial manifestations of the CONTROLLING
THOMPSON, or instead unseen and personless concoctions of local clans, groups, or teams."
From
The Religion. pg 92.
"
...You can operate in a campaign mode where your man lives in a pack and tries to become the "
thompson" or supreme leader, while grappling with everyday survival. [...]
From
Terms. pp. 94-95
"SCHEDULES AND DISPENSING RULES OF SEASONS: System of legal disbursement in relation to seasons and temperature.
Thompson embodies the assembly, the constituency, the audience, the retractors, the
Thompson and non-
Thompson in any weather-viewing scheme."
From
Terms. pg 95.
"HUMAN WEATHER: [...] The only feasible solution, outside of large-scale stifling or combustion of physical forms, is to pursue the system of rotational silence proposed by
Thompson, a member of ideal physical deportment - his tongue removed, his skin muffled with glues, his eyes shielded under with pictures of the final scenery."
From
Terms. pg 96.
"UNIVERSAL STORM CALENDAR: 1.
Thompsoned system of air influence. Inexplicable. [...]"
From
Terms. pp 122-123.
"WEATHER KILLER, THE: Person, persons, or team who perform actual and pronounced killings of the air. [...] Their works were first uncovered at the wind farm. They exist as items which are counter-
Thompson, given that they kill what he has made."
From
Terms. pg 135.
"BEHAVIOR FARM: Location of deep grass structures in which the seventeen primary actions, as prescribed by
Thompson, designer of movement, are fueled, harnessed, or sparked by the seven partial viscous liquid emotions that pour in from the river. [...]"
From
Terms. pp 137-138.
"MESSONISM: Religious system of the society consisting of the following principles: [...] The practice of sacrificing houses in autumn. It is an offering to Perkins, or the
Thompson that controls it. [...] The practice of abstaining from any act or locution that might indicate that one knows, knew, or has known any final detail or attribute of the true
Thompson. [...] The notion that no text shall fix the principles. [...]"
Incomplete Index of References to Thompson in other Ben Marcus works
Notable American Women: Number of references: 14+
"
Thompson Food Scheme"
"
Thompson Water"
"
Thompson Stick"
"
Thompson Box"
"Ice
Thompson"
"Female
Thompson"
The Flame Alphabet: Number of References: Many
Thompson takes the form of a mysterious character named "Rabbi
Thompson." Rabbi
Thompson is the source of a clandestine / underground broadcast that contains survival instructions for those who know how to locate the signal. It is intimated that the
Thompson Broadcast is a false, meaningless cover signal for a deeper, better hidden, more authentic signal. This is never explicitly proven and a second signal is never located. References include "
Thompson Broadcast" and "
Thompson Sermon."
