(urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by Rudesind

brunians at brunians.org brunians at brunians.org
Wed Jul 7 15:33:50 PDT 2010


You are wrong, Antonio.

The writer is the author.

The reader is the Author.

.


> Maybe I should point out in more detail how the two things you are
> confusing
> are quite distinct.
>
> - One is the author having a purpose for including something in the story.
> The thing is there because it serves some end. That is its narrative
> advantage.
>
> - The other is the reader having a purpose for making assumptions about
> what
> happens in the story, i.e., speculation. Speculation is justified because
> it
> enables a novel or in some way extended reading.
>
> In fact, the reason you've provided yourself for justifying speculation is
> that it serves to find a narrative advantage to things which otherwise you
> think don't have any.
>
> Now, I'm not a fan of the idea that everything must provide narrative
> advantage. In fact I think a decent lengthy book should have detail in it
> that is there only for its own sake. Maybe it could provide narrative
> advantage in a parallel story. Maybe the fact that the character forded 3
> instead of 2 brooks could be significant in some untold story about that
> place. Maybe the story can even be written one of these days.
>
> In short, I don't think everything in a book should serve some purpose
> within that book. But reader speculation must, because with all the stuff
> that Wolfe left lying there to toy with, if you don't set some standard,
> then you can go on indefinitely at random.
>
> Whereas you've done the reverse: you think everything in the stpry must
> serve some purpose, yet speculation is free to roam.
>
>
> Ryan Dunn wrote (07-07-2010 22:18):
>> Exactly, or Ouen being her son, or a boatman looking for 'Cas. Or FBO
>> going backwards in time only to keep meeting Severian as if by chance?
>>
>> ...ryan
>>
>> On Jul 7, 2010, at 5:13 PM, James Wynn<crushtv at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>
>>>> Whereas no one has yet explained just what the
>>>> considering-that-some-characters-in-the-BNS-are-Inire brings to the
>>>> table.
>>>> Lee points to it enlightening Inire's nature and motivations, but I
>>>> find
>>>> that sketchy. Could your camp do some more sketching, perhaps?
>>>
>>> What's the narrative advantage of Dorcas being Severian's grandmother?
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