I told my wife Ellen (Ellen McLaughlin – playwright and actress extraordinaire) that I had named my main character Caleb. She thought she’d remembered something about that name. She found the following:
Caleb’s name is spelled with the same consonants as כֶּלֶב kéleḇ meaning “dog”, prompting the common conclusion that the name Caleb means “dog”. InEblaite language, the name Galibu (Caleb) is found, meaning “dog-like” in the sense of fleet-footed (as the hound overtakes the deer, which is the model of fleetness in Semitic lore).
I take this as a sign I’m on the right path.
Just started writing Prosper’s speech to his shareholders (I love that term “shareholder”. Would that more shareholders deserved such a lovely title, “sharing and holding things in common” presumably for the greater good). We learn that his company Ariel is designed as a predator company on the vast herd of materialist concerns (banks, brokerages, insurance companies) that are currently and, it seems, in perpetuity, bankrupting us all (overgrazing, trampling the arable land). Ariel is a kind of stealth financial instrument that can creep in through cracks and fissures to undo companies, diverting their assets (spirit them away) offshore to Prosper’s shareholders and staff (Ariel). Ariel is also designed to turn on itself when it runs out of companies to absorb and dismantle (become an airy nothing). Still working on the idea, but finding it fascinating to imagine.
Stay tuned.
I love the idea that he’s developed a company that is going to prey on other companies. Feels right, given that I as a consumer feel preyed upon all of the time by big corporations. What he’s doing kind of reminds me of Robin Hood.