(urth) Recent human crash-landing on Sainte-Anneþ

[Jerry Friedman]

> From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>

...

> >But a theory which contradicts some aspect of the text is  _not_ such a 
>theory. A theory that says that, 
>
> >clearly, the Lady came out  of the door is reasonable. A theory that says the 
>Tiger came out of the door 
>
> >is also reasonable. But a theory that says the Daleks came out of the  door 
>and exterminated the young man, 
>
> >the princess, and the king, is  _not_ reasonable (though it is amusing).
> 
> Yep agreed. But that was  Stockton's version. What if Gene Wolfe had written 
>it? Are there ambiguous  SF/Fantasy
> answers that would serve given the sorts of clues Wolfe would  provide? How 
>about a woman in a lifelike tiger suit? 
>
> Maybe a female  weretiger created by Father Inire? (not good examples but the 
>best I can do  right now)
> 
> We all agree that Daleks coming out is not a reasonable  answer. So, by 
>accusing someone of theorizing 
>
> Daleks when they have proposed  a lady weretiger, we have a psychological ploy 
>designed to discredit the person, 
>
> and leave the idea of complex ambiguity unexamined.
...

But when someone says as a theoretical generalization that there's no 
falsifiability in interpreting fiction, that person does imply that Daleks are 
just as good an interpretation as any other.  And quite possibly we have a 
psychological ploy designed to discredit people who make objections they 
consider valid.

Jerry Friedman