Peace: non ho capito

Friends, I've just recently returned to my home from a vacation to the southern states. While there, I read Peace, and I have no idea what it was about. Is Alden Dennis Weer a time traveller? Is he dead? Who is the woman who some readers think he killed? About the only thing I did understand about Peace are the many references to and borrowings from Jorge Luis Borges. Any help on understanding this difficult tome would be appreciated! Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html ------------------------------------------------ "The darkest dreams are the ones that come true." -Warren Defever

Whoa there! That's a BIG can of worms. We had quite a good discussion of PEACE early on in the list, so you should be able to get some good info from the archives. For starters, it does appear the Weer is dead from the outset of the book--many have noted that the falling tree disturbs his grave. On other theme in the book that I'm fond of (though I've had little luck convincing anyone of this) is solipsism. Weer's universe seems to exist solely in his thoughts, but his relating of the stories of the dead breathes new life into those old bones. Also note the "Rest in PEACE" theme, in that by telling the stories of the dead, their souls may finally R.I.P. See Clute for a good discussion of this work. Also, someone on this list (was that you, Damien?) has written an excellent essay on PEACE, which can be located in the archives. Jason Voegele -----Original Message----- From: CRCulver at aol.com <CRCulver at aol.com> To: urth at lists.best.com <urth at lists.best.com> Date: Sunday, August 23, 1998 1:45 AM Subject: (urth) Peace: non ho capito |Friends, | |I've just recently returned to my home from a vacation to the southern states. |While there, I read Peace, and I have no idea what it was about. Is Alden |Dennis Weer a time traveller? Is he dead? Who is the woman who some readers |think he killed? | |About the only thing I did understand about Peace are the many references to |and borrowings from Jorge Luis Borges. | |Any help on understanding this difficult tome would be appreciated! | |Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> |http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html |------------------------------------------------ |"The darkest dreams are the ones that come true." |-Warren Defever | works

I am not sure if I am thinking of the same discussion of Peace that you are (although I remember only one) but if I am then "good" is perhaps overstating it. What I remember is a lengthy discussion (which I started) about what Weer knew about Napolean's hand. It reached no definitive conclusion. No wait, that's wrong. I am just remembering that there was also a discussion about whether Weer killed everybody else in Peace, long before I joined the list. I just looked it up. The original Peace discussion was in the Urth Mail Archive Volume 1. The "Napolean's Hand" discussion, which also has its points of interest was split over Volumes 10 and 11. Here is a long interview with Wolfe that includes info on Peace: <http://world.std.com/~pduggan/gwjbj.html>. I got the URL from this Wolfe page (check it out for many other good Wolfe links including more interviews) <http://world.std.com/~pduggan/wolfe.html> which I got from the Whorl web page <http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/>. William Ansley

|I am not sure if I am thinking of the same discussion of Peace that you |are (although I remember only one) but if I am then "good" is perhaps |overstating it. What I remember is a lengthy discussion (which I started) |about what Weer knew about Napolean's hand. It reached no definitive |conclusion. | |No wait, that's wrong. I am just remembering that there was also a |discussion about whether Weer killed everybody else in Peace, long before |I joined the list. Yes, this is the one to which I was referring. OK, maybe "good" was overstating it some, since we barely scratched the surface, but there were multiple posts covering multiple subjects, so at least a good start to a good discussion has been set in place. |I just looked it up. The original Peace discussion was in the Urth Mail |Archive Volume 1. The "Napolean's Hand" discussion, which also has its |points of interest was split over Volumes 10 and 11.