Weer's Death in Peace

William Ansley said: <It is as certain as anything can be in a Wolfe book that Weer is dead...from internal evidence...> I don't think so... And continued: <...and because Wolfe has said so.> ...but it looks like I'm wrong <g> And said: <Maybe I'll reread Peace again> I assume Peace is like all Wolfe novels in that whole new shades of meaning blossom with each rereading. I hope to learn more the second time around than I did the first. I guess I'll start on it again after I finish Dan Simmons' Hyperion quartet which, incidentally, contains several influences from Wolfe, IMHO. I've found, on the Compuserve Wolfe interview, what I was looking for, in that a fan asks if Weer killed Lois: "davelant: Mr. Wolfe, did Alden Dennis Weer kill the librarian, and bury her in the dry creek bed?" And Wolfe unfortunately responded: "GeneWolfe: Weer: You are going to have to figure that one out for yourself. I don't tell that kind of stuff." Just my luck... 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

Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> said:

You certainly can think whatever you want, but please note that I said "certain as anything can be in a Wolfe book" which isn't very certain at all. However I think the evidence that Weer is dead is strong. One reason I think that the evidence is strong is that it is also very indirect and you have to pay close attention to figure it out. I read the book three times before I realized that Weer was dead. If Wolfe makes it easy to think something is true, it may well be false. If Wolfe makes it hard to discern something, it is more likely to be true.

Don't give up the ship! Why believe what Wolfe says "in person" if you don't believe what he says in his books? <g>

Exactly! Even though Peace seems to be a story told by a fairly unremarkable man in a fairly unremarkable setting, I keep finding new, remarkable things in it every time I reread it. (I have lost count of how many times that is.) Perhaps that is the reason it fascinates me so. Another thing that adds to my interest in Peace, after reading much of Wolfe's other work, is how many germs of ideas that appear in many of his novels and short stories can be found in Peace (or so it seems to me).

A while ago we had an entertaining discussion about casting a movie version of TBotNS. Here is another movie idea: a Wolfe version of Stephen King's Misery. In this version the author is tortured by his crazed fan until he tells him/her what he really meant about everything in every book/story. The torture would be a little more appropriate in this version, since reading Wolfe's fiction is what drove the fan crazy in the first place. <It's a JOKE! I don't condone the kidnapping and torture of any author no matter how deserving. A few come to mind who are much more deserving than Wolfe, but I'm sure you all have your own, different, lists.> William Ansley