Annotation - Chapter 11, Page 80

• (80:26) "Who run the Power Ring who ben too close to Power who gone Badstock crookit and seed of the crookit? Us the same the Eusa folk."

This is one of the points where a literal-minded reader—especially one expecting a science-fiction story in the mode of A Canticle for Leibowitz—may become frustrated by the lack of a single clear antecedent for Lissener's stories. Is he really descended from scientists? From Eusa? Did their work make them deformed? Is their lost knowledge really genetically inherent in the Eusa folk, as Lissener believes; or was this story made up to explain the inexplicable presence of that knowledge? We have already heard a different version of Eusa's life and we will hear others; not surprisingly, different details are highlighted depending on who's telling it.

At least one reader has suggested that the plight of the Eusa folk, who are kept separate and systematically tortured for the supposed spiritual information they contain, represents the age-old persecution of Jews in Europe. (The same subject is treated more directly in Pilgermann.) EB sees some support for this reading, if one takes the notion that the Eusa folk are "crooked" from having been "too close to Power" as a metaphor beyond the obvious reference to radiation. It echoes two common antisemitic legends at once: the Jews being cursed for the betrayal of Jesus (himself a Power), and being a mysterious elite with secret influence in the world. Antisemites from medieval to modern times have portrayed Jews as sickly yet powerful. If intentional, the reference is surely ironic since both Judaism and Christianity are forgotten in Riddley's time.