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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>I have always thought it should have been
called A Story, by "John V. Marsch". But perhaps that would
have been giving the game away too easily.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The problem is as you say, it doesn't work if we
take it as maximally unreliable, because it is our only source of information
for so much; we have no means of testing the reliability of the narrator with
regard to the different elements. Not giving it credit would render the
full book basically meaningless.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>We also have Word of God on the issue:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>"<FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">I decided to
present the Sandwalker story as a legend or story that Marsch had uncovered,
rather than as straight reportage, because I wanted to keep all three stories
set in roughly the same time frame—the "present" of the opening novella. Since
the period in which the Sandwalker scene was—in terms of the "present" found in
the rest of the book—taking place in the distant past of the planet, it made
more sense to say, "Here's a legend that has survived from that period" rather
than simply jumping into the past and presenting it
directly."</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>< <A
href="http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/wolfe46interview.htm">http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/wolfe46interview.htm</A> ></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>If I am interpreting that correctly, there's
nothing unreliable there personal to VRT/Marsch, and really no indication of
anything unreliable except in terms of characters presented within it, as
would be the case if it were presented directly, which is an option Wolfe
avoided only for stylistic reasons.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>- Gerry Quinn</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jerry_friedman@yahoo.com href="mailto:jerry_friedman@yahoo.com">Jerry
Friedman</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=urth@lists.urth.net
href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net">The Urth Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 05, 2011 7:02
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: (urth) interview
questions</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman,new york,times,serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">I'm
interested to see people taking "'A Story', by John V. Marsch" as a source of
factual-in-the-fiction information. I took the title to be a strong
indication that it's maximally unreliable and that to the extent we get
information from it, it's information about what Marsch believes or wants to
believe or especially wants his fictitious readers (who are they?) to
believe. Or just what he thinks would be cool.<BR>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-FAMILY: times new roman,new york,times,serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Of
course, this led me to the wrong conclusion (that there were never any abos or
Shadow Children), and when I learned I was wrong, it led me to think puzzling
over "'A Story'" would be too hard, so maybe that's why people aren't doing
it.<BR><BR>Jerry Friedman<BR><BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>