#he's dante's vergil and wilder's vergil and broch's vergil and le guin's vergil and mine

[finelythreadedsky]

i think it's really nice that ursula le guin was careful to specifically mention in lavinia that vergil isn't so much a real historical person as a character we've all constructed in our collective imagination. because now she's also a character we've all constructed in our collective imaginations.

[finelythreadedsky]

#that reference the vergil makes-- ostensibly as he lies dying in brundisium in 19 bce-- to meeting dante in the wood kills me#he's dante's vergil and wilder's vergil and broch's vergil and le guin's vergil and mine#which i suppose means he's not his own. as lavinia is not her own. that's what it means to live on in memory.

i think it's really nice that ursula le guin was careful to specifically mention in lavinia that vergil isn't so much a real historical person as a character we've all constructed in our collective imagination. because now she's also a character we've all constructed in our collective imaginations.