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DREAM_OF_RENEWAL


                                             September 06, 2012

  Or rather, the dream of
  reclaiming lost youth.          I wonder if this fantasy is more
                                  popular with the young, than old.
  As the story opens, the         The young have some need of
  main character is               flattery to help get through their
  feeling old and                 benighted condition.
  disatisfied with his
  life.                               A variant of Peter Pan?

  A strange unlikely                               But then, the "old guys
  event occurs-- so we                             getting it on with young
  *have* to be at the       CHANCES_ARE            babes" fantasy is common
  narrative's start--                              enough, e.g. in every
  perhaps a magical,                               Audrey Hepburn movie.
  miraculous event: it
  breaks him out of his
  rut, takes him away
  from his mundane
  existence.

  It becomes clear that
  that mundane existence
  was poisonous to him           Escaping the suburbs
  (to everyone?), and            and returning to the     That would be
  once free of it, he            city, to civilization?   "Desperately
  becomes young and strong                                Seeking Susan",
  and fit for adventure            The 50s/60s            a (rare?) case
  rather than routine.             version was more       that contradicts
                                   like escaping          my use of a
                                   civilzation and        male pronoun.
                                   getting back to
                                   nature, man.             SEEKING


     Phil Jose Farmer's
     "Maker of Universes"

                         MAKER

     Thorne Smith's
     "Topper"


                         Alan Moore's
                         "A Dream of Flying",
                         the opening of
                         Miracle Man (1988).


                                                            RESIGNATION





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