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June 11, 2009 -- Non Omnis Moriar

We know that Kempelen's gravestone bore a quote from Horace, "I do not die completely," but its design is a guess, because it no longer exists. You can still visit his grave, but you'll have to look for him under your boot-soles -- he was buried in the Währing cemetary, but in 1925, it was converted into Schubert Park. (Beethoven and Schubert were both originally interred in the Währinger Friedhof, but were moved to the Zentralfriedhof, their original tombs preserved.) So if you're ever in Vienna, take a walk through Schubert Park, and say hello to him for me. One of these days I'll get there myself.

In answer some of the questions in last week's comments section -- did Maelzel know the automaton was a trick? -- my guess is that he did, but I've no conclusive proof one way or the other. By 1806, he had built several of his own very impressive automata, so he surely knew the limits of technology at the time. Additionally, von Kempelen always made it a point to let the audience know that the chess-player was a trick, referring to it as a "trifle" and a "bagatelle". I have to think that poor Wolf felt rather bewildered when people kept taking it so seriously.

Von Kempelen did take the secret with him to his grave -- we don't even know the names of the directors he hired for either of the automaton's tours. It may seem odd that Karl wouldn't know the particulars of the trick, but from his perspective, the automaton must have been an awful nuisance. It dragged him all over Europe, and for he and Theresa, it would've been one boring apartment after another, never seeing the performances, never getting a chance to participate in the fun. It wouldn't be too far a stretch to imagine Karl never wanting anything to do with it.

***

This is, as you've probably guessed, the last page in Part One. If you'd like to find out what happened to the individual family members, you can check out the "von Kempelen Family Epilogue" in the new Web Extras section. For now, Clockwork Game will go on hiatus for an indefinite period.

If I am able to restart the comic, I will let readers know as soon as I possibly can. If you're still interested in following the story, I'd suggest either signing up for the mailing list or adding the RSS feed to your reader of choice. That way you'll get the news of the reboot as soon as it's available.

Thank you all so much for reading, and for responding -- your comments every week kept me going more than you know. Clockwork Game has been a wonderful experience for me, and I hope you've enjoyed it, too.