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LEON KASS: Do you think this is a tragedy in the classical sense that theÖummÖ outcome
is somehow, uhh, that thereís a certain kind of flaw in the man which is connected to his
greatness or to whatís admirable about him, or do you think it just happened? And I wouldÖis
this just a sad story with no happy ending- you began with that, itís not a happy ending.
Lots of people read this and expect or are hoping that heís going to make it back to
camp at the next fire. But uhh, are we meant to see this asÖas finally an indictment of
this man, or at least seeing this as what happened to him was a cosmic answer to his
limitations? Or do we want to say ìtough luckî he didnít make it, lots of other people
would.
AMY KASS: What do I think? Itís both. And I want to say itís both because as you know,
probably far better than I, tragedy isÖ the core of tragedy is not only paradox, but the
paradox is this: Necessity sets the course, but human beings still remain responsible.
And you see that so vividly in this particular storyÖ
LEON KASS: Actually now that youíve put it that way, umm, it occurs to me to say, Look,
the peculiar kind of comeuppance for self- confident, enterprising people is that they
donít really allow for chance. ìItî happens- twice- ìitî happens. And itís treated by
the man- London writing for the man- treats this as if itís happenstance rather than
a kind of possibility that ought not to have been forgotten.
AMY KASS: ìItî happened, but it didnít have to happen. Yet it had to happen.