> I don't know if this is actually an active list--I haven't seen any
> posts since I joined a week ago. I just wondered if everyone agreed
> with me that Burnside was, fundamentally, heroic (if tragically so)--
> sacrificing personal happiness and the comfort of an unburdened
> conscience for his ideal of duty. I was also wondering if everyone
> else enjoyed as much as I did the friendship/suspicion/manipulation
> interaction between Burnside and his ex-father-in-law.
>
The list was very active when it was first formed, but has been
quiet of late.
I think Pat Nussman may agree with your view of Neil, and some of
the others on the list as well. I think he's fascinating, but
frightening, and not heroic - his ideal is far too questionable to me, and
also too mixed with personal ambition. His motives are questionable, his
methods run a gamut from clever to conniving to treacherous to despicable.
I think of Neil as one step from a fanatic. I do however, love the
exchanges between Neil and Wellingham. I think the show is brilliantly
written an acted.
Gayle