(urth) Palgrave History of Science Fiction (Eric Bourland)

Sun Mar 18 02:34:22 PDT 2018

Hi, Robert,

Interesting points! And probably my own reply is not too interesting. I 
was not thinking at all the Gideon was the author of the book. But I do 
think a writer pours into each character a little of herself or himself. 
A bit of the author goes into a character, esp a beloved character. And 
sometimes it might please the author to set up a little signal for the 
thoughtful reader. I think Gene Wolfe does this sometimes, but in a 
subtle, rather than an artless way. And I think it's mostly just for the 
slight humor of the thing, rather than anything oracular or grand.

 >>> It struck me that you used the word "jackpot" here. There is a bit 
in the book that has always given me the fuddles: "That girl wouldn't 
have unlocked the door for Jacob, Jack Pot, and Joan of Arc".  AEG, pg. 
29.  Who is "Jack Pot" as used here?

Hmmm. I bet if we go looking we can find a fairy tale that involves a 
chap named Jack Pot. I have various editions of Lang, Andersen, Grimm, 
and a few others around here, but in paper book format, and if I dive 
into that today, rather than doing my work, I'll have a great time but 
probably regret it later. =) I know that Wolfe likes fairy tales. I used 
to love them, myself. I still do and wish I had more time to read them. 
Heck . . . I wish I had more time to read. ;-)

In any case, of course, I was just using "jackpot" as a . . . hamhanded 
colloquialism. A scrape, a jam, a bad situation, like grad school.

 >>>Yeah, it's a neat little statement.  But why?  Just because it's 
funny?  What would have been gratuitous about its use earlier?

Well, this reader thought it was funny and endearing. It made me like 
Cassie more. Why gratuitous, if used earlier? Pacing, I think. But, this 
is only my take on it.

 >>>>Why does a person with a supposedly killer body and magically 
enhanced sex-appeal admit that she likes to eat much too much?  In fact, 
she does eat much too much throughout the book.  Why?

Hmm. Maybe, like many women, she has been taught by a patriarchal 
society that she should, indeed, be concerned about what she eats. 
Personally, I like a woman who eats with gusto. One of the pleasures of 
my life is cooking good meals for my wife (and my kid).

 >>>Why, that would be 1987's "The Other Dead Man".

Thank you! that's right. I'm gonna go find that one sometime today.

Wishing you all a great day.

Eric

On 3/16/2018 4:20 PM, Robert Pirkola wrote:
>
> On March 7, 2018 Eric Bourland wrote:
>
> > I respect how she managed herself in every jackpot she got thrown into.
>
> It struck me that you used the word "jackpot" here. There is a bit in 
> the book that has always given me the fuddles:  "That girl wouldn't 
> have unlocked the door for Jacob, Jack Pot, and Joan of Arc".  AEG, 
> pg. 29.  Who is "Jack Pot" as used here?
>
>
> >Chase is Wolfe . . . it took me a while to understand this. I think
> >after I did understand, Chase made more sense to me. He's slightly
> >sinister and we never really know about him. But also a magic man, and
> >omnicompetent, but with those gifts comes uncertainty of intent.
>
> I think that identifying GC as GW is interesting to think about but 
> leaves me cold in the final analysis. What can this do for the book?  
> Does it make it an exercise in elaborate meta-fiction?  That GC is the 
> "author" of the book and thus capable of writing in any changes he 
> wants without explanation?  If true, he can, with a stab of the 
> keyboard, make ho-hum CC into a star!  He can turn Alexis from the 
> star of The Red Spot into a waitress within a few pages!  He can deus 
> ex any machina he wants (and perhaps every inexplicable part of the 
> book is made explicable by this omnipotent ability of the character as 
> author). It can explain why GC is the only character other than CC who 
> the third-person narrator reports on without CC being present (the 
> opening chapter at the White House and the scene where GC is shot).  
> But if the explanation behind AEG's most inscrutable head pounders is 
> simply GC is magic because an author is magic and he's Gene Wolfe, you 
> see? so PRESTO!, then count me out.  I'm not suggesting that this is 
> necessarily your thesis, but I would be interested in hearing your 
> take on why it is important to identify GC and GW outside of a "hey 
> isn't that clever, Gene Wolfe put some of himself into Gideon Chase!"  
> It is such a confounding book, any toe-hold can be a fun way to 
> re-read the book, and maybe if you did so with this in mind, some 
> interesting stuff would pop out.
>
> >Wolfe adores Cassie, just as Gideon Chase adores Cassie. And I think he
> >respects her. Both fellows respect her.
> >
> >"Like eat?"
> >
> >"Much too much," Cassie told her darkly.
> >
> >That statement arrived at just the right time, later in the story. Given
> >earlier, it's gratuitous.
>
> Yeah, it's a neat little statement.  But why?  Just because it's 
> funny?  What would have been gratuitous about its use earlier?  Why 
> does a person with a supposedly killer body and magically enhanced 
> sex-appeal admit that she likes to eat much too much? In fact, she 
> does eat much too much throughout the book.  Why?
>
> >She loved her king (Reis, whose name is king, and whose meaning in the
> >story is king) with a love much more profound than her love for Chase.
> >Yet she flies to meet Chase in the end, on Woldercan. I think she
> >expended her beauty in order to obtain a craft that will convey her to
> >Chase . . . and out of the story. She fought her way out, with great
> >sacrifice and peril, but fair and square.
> >
> >I like to think about the things that Cassie wished for; what she
> >actually got; what she got free of or escaped from; and what she was
> >traveling to meet in the end.
>
> Her fighting her way out of the story, out of the time loop that is a 
> closed novel, to be with GC/GW on Woldercan is also appealing.  Is 
> this book really that "meta"?  See my comments above on the ultra-meta 
> approach and ditto them here.
>
> >William Reis is the name of a character in another Wolfe story, I forget
> >which one.
>
> Why, that would be 1987's "The Other Dead Man".
>
>
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-- 
Eric Bourland
eb at hwaet.com
https://www.hwaet.com

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