Having been lurking on the digest, I must mention something...
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For a long time my favorite explanation for the events that transpire in "Forlesen" was provided by the undertaker-type character at the story's end--namely, that Emanuel Forlesen has been "revived by unseen aliens who, landing on the Earth eons after the death of the last man, have sought to re-create the life of the twentieth century." Kind of GW's version of THE EINSTEIN INTERSECTION, so-to-speak, with Dilbert as Lobey.
I have actually thought for many years that Delany's 'The Einstein Intersection' and 'Fifth Head of Cerebrus' were in so close a parallel as to be eerie. To me, they are almost the same book as written by two authors. I believe that I base this feeling primarily on the fact that both books are masterworks in the art of storytelling by misdirection, both are about severely displaced/resurrected cultures, and both are (nominally) about humans in stressful, regressed settings.
BTW, I am reading BOTNS aloud to my wife, a chapter per evening, which is doing amazing things for my own perceptions. We are keeping the excellent 'Lexicon Urthus' on the night stand for quick reference (although I won't let her see the entries until we're done -- no spoilers!). So I have come to realize a fundamental question about the book:
How big is that freaking sabertache anyway?
Jay Lake
Austin, Texas