(urth) 5HC

[Lee]

>Marc Aramini: Marsch had already been to St Anne and been

>replaced when he met Number Five.


You and Gerry are in agreement on that. The rarity of this

is almost enough by itself to convince me. Moreover, I've

never been good at fictional timelines.


It still seems odd that a visiting anthropologist would not

stop in to see the resident expert first, rather than diving

right into field study and finding the expert later. Also, I

don't see why Victor would seek out the theorist who correctly

hypothesized that he is a fake. Avoiding her would seem the 

more logical deceptive strategy.


>He does not explain how his writing became similar to that of

>the boy who supposedly died. Nor does the above explain 'Marsch's' 

>ruminations in his cell about his abo mother, and the hard time he 

>had learning to write as a schoolboy


It remains conjecture rather than a part of the text that Victor

has replaced Dr. Marsch. Conjecture which was rejected by some

readers. 


Nowhere in the text does it say "Victor replaced Marsch". Only 

when those words appeared in a Wolfe interview did the skeptics

relent in demanding to be shown where in the text it says that

Victor replaced Marsch.


The point being that if Wolfe makes his point about Victor without

ever putting it in the text, then surely Wolfe is making other points

without putting it in the text in this and in his other works. There 

are no rules on how far to take speculation and conjecture except one's 

own feelings and emotions. "This seems right to me" is the best we 

can each do.


Currently, you and Marc feel that Marsch was an abo when he first

met Dr. Veil. Currently that doesn't feel right to me. Currently,

Marc and I feel that virtually all humans were replaced on St. Croix

while, currently, that does not feel right to you.


Naturally we each go by what feels right to us. We are dealing with

fictional creations which do not exist except as insubstantial mental

constructs. 5HoC does not exist other than in the form of our own 

thoughts and feelings.