THE MINISTER’S BLACK VEIL: This is a fascinating set of questions and answers about masking–from Aeschylus to the Mardi Gras krewes. Just really excellent stuff about America, social roles vs. individual identity, the physical process of creating a mask, and much more. (And it implicitly explains why Rorschach can’t speak in complete sentences!) I do wonder what the author would make of the Nathaniel Hawthorne story which gives this post its title. Masks are usually thought of as concealing something (which this guy is casting as the American interpretation) or slotting a player into his social role. Either refusing language or entering into the social positioning without which language and communication generally can’t occur. But in “TMBV” the veil is harshly revelatory, shocking, challenging–yet it reveals only that there is something to be concealed. It should be an invitation to language, but turns out to be a rejection of language.

Anyway, your thoughts on this interlocking set of subjects would be welcome, since I’m working on a story with a strong masking theme (working title: “The Wise and Foolish Virgins”), and I really want to hear anything you have to say about the issues raised in the post I linked. Or anything about “TMBV,” a story Ratty turned me on to. (Onto which Ratty turned me? Sounds like the story is my helpless victim. Very Anxiety of Influence.)