<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif;font-size:12pt"><div class="" style="">Gerry: I'll reply your whole post a little later. For the moment, allow me simply to address this:</div><div class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div><div class="" style="background-color: transparent;"><span class="" style="">"</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" class="">no character - aside from those intended to take the role of complete lunatics, and rarely those - is completely delusional about concrete matters. And nor does it depend on information hidden by Wolfe in odd lines that are never reinforced with pointers."</span></div><div class="" style=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"
class=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">Interviewer: </span>In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, does John Marsch understand that he’s really V.R.T., a “shadow child,” one of the aboriginal inhabitants of the colony planet, who is aping a man?</div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: italic; background-color: transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style=""><span style="font-style: italic;">Gene Wolfe: </span>Yes, he does. He knows he’s not a real Earthman, but he’s trying to talk himself into believing that he is. That’s what he wants to be.</div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: italic; background-color:
transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">
</div><div class="" style="">Gene Wolfe, <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529431/a-qa-with-gene-wolfe/" class="" style="">http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529431/a-qa-with-gene-wolfe/</a></div><div class="" style=""><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">Victor is, as I said, a shadow child mimicking an Annese mimicking Marsch. Unlke my, Wolfe (who ought to know) suggests that he is on the fence, belief-wise, concerning this. Recall Marsch's mother-fantasies in jail. Also, note the 'not a real Earthman'; Marsch is a shadow-child, not an Annese. As for 'odd lines that are never reinforced with pointers', Wolfe has asserted in other interviews that he doesn't repeat clues because he 'doesn't want to insult the reader's intelligence.'</div><div class="" style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;"><br></div><div class="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; font-family: HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;">More later.</div><blockquote style="border: none; padding: 0px;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; background-color: transparent;" class=""><br class="" style=""></div></blockquote> </div></body></html>