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I've been thinking about this for a bit and am not really clear what you mean by the dreaminess of the scene with Cathy Ruth and the gnome-jeweler who exclaims about Bax's sapphire ring but refuses to talk about Skotos. The scene is in<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;"> a
letter to George for one so the b.s. radar should start flashing there. Is that what you are talking about? </span>In any event, your trianulus theory is very strong in my opinion and perhaps it lends some insight into that scene. Are you saying that
there are three layers to the narrative and that most persons and significant items in the book have three natures? I read your thesis as Fantasy (highest order fabrication)/ Myth/(Tall Tale?) (middle order) / "Reality" (lowest order of fabrication). I feel
like you've talked about this kind of hierarchy before in your short story write-ups (or somewhere!) but in relation to a hierarchy of mimesis. Is this similar in your view? If so, it is interesting that Cathy Ruth could plausibly be a fabrication (she is
never in the presence of George, having been safely tucked into a car after her "rape" just before his arrival at the house). She could be used as a way to ratchet up the plausibility of Bax's story to George by coming out and showing that a journalist is
sniffing around about the supernatural rumors. In any event, it struck me on rereading some parts that Cathy Ruth is supposed to be raped by the dwarf but when the dwarf is seen with a woman it is one that doesn't match her description at all (I think it
was Madame Orizia?). It seems like this is the woman that was captured and should have been raped so is there some type of hierarchical relationship between Cathy Ruth and Madame Orizia? And if so who represents which level? And who is the third? A clue
might be found in Orizia's name meaning which seems to be derived from that of an Amazon queen Orithyia (the daughter of Marpesia, which apropos of your previous post, is the name of a butterfly! I feel a wave of apophenia coming on). Remember the coin that
has a depiction of a one-breasted Amazon? This starts to connect a smidge. Getting back to the restaurant scene, Bax's ring is talked about as a beautiful example of sapphire. Elsewhere
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;">
it is a fire opal</span>. Still elsewhere <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400;">it is Ted's ho-hum
wedding ring.</span> One, two, three levels of the hierarchy. Skotos Strip (reality), Black House (myth), what's the third property? The castle (fantasy)? Have you put these relationships into a table and see how they look next to each other? And I just
remembered I wanted to ask . . . What of the Tarot deck the chapters are supposed to represent? And what about Letters 22 and 23 (both called Silver Bullets) being smack in the middle with 21 letters either side? Are these significant? I have brought up
the concept of chiasmus and ring composition in the context of AEG but it seems like if it were used it would be used in this book given the prominence of rings in the text. Heck, even Musashi Miyamoto is mentioned along with his Book of Five Rings(!). Anyhow,
these are a smattering of my thoughts just now.</div>
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