Subject: (urth) Call 4 a FAQulty

From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 18:09:00 +0000

Here's a thought--maybe a committee (a "FAQulty," if you will) could
begin the process of whipping up a FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions"
and the Answers to Them) for a book by Gene Wolfe.  From time to time
there is a call for them, or a single voice volunteering for some
herculean task (e.g., "Let's do FAQs for =all= Wolfe books at
once!").  Yet nothing is ever actually done.

The opening steps (in no particular order):

A committee must be formed by volunteers and/or draftees, preferably
a mix of both.

The target text must be selected.  Avoid the series books for the
time being; give the committee a break as well as the slim hope of
getting a FAQ completed (in any sense of the word).  Obviously the
text must be one that the committee members are enthused enough to
work on (which is why this step might best work if it comes before
the committee formation--have potential committee members all cast
ranking votes on a short list to determine which text would be best
to start with).

=SCORE--MEANING=
 "5"   I am very interested in working on this text, in fact,
       I've already started!
 "3"   I am interested in working on this text.
 "0"   I refuse to work on this text.

=A SAMPLE SHORT LIST=
PEACE
THERE ARE DOORS
PANDORA BY HOLLY HOLLANDER
CASTLEVIEW
OPERATION ARES
THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS
FREE LIVE FREE

Finally, the glory and the gruntwork: the crafting of the FAQ!

Then, after it is done, a brief rest and then (perhaps) move on to
the text ranked number two by the committee preference vote.

The FAQulty could even put a deadline of one month per FAQ, so that the
project doesn't draw out indefinitely.  Each FAQ can/will be
revised/added to later--the point is to get something up and running.
If each one was completed in one month, and there was a one month
vacation in between each one, nearly the entire short list above
could be covered in one year (though since I doubt people will want
to do work on THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS or OPERATION ARES or PANDORA
BY HOLLY HOLLANDER, the official short list will probably be much
shorter and therefore the FAQs completed more quickly).

=mantis=

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:31:47 +0000

I've got another idea that might be less work and more useful.  How about
someone volunteer to help Ranjit convert the Urth/Whorl archives into
an easily searchable format? 

Do most frequently asked questions about Wolfe's books have a single,
brief answer?

-Rostrum

---

From: CRCulver <crculver at aol.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 03:24:26 +0000

Mantis suggested:
<<Here's a thought--maybe a committee (a "FAQulty," if you will) could begin
the process of whipping up a FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions" and the Answers
to Them) for a book by Gene Wolfe.  From time to time there is a call for
them, or a single voice volunteering for some herculean task (e.g., "Let's do
FAQs for =all= Wolfe books at once!").  Yet nothing is ever actually done.>>

A FAQ sounds like a great idea, and we could easily find the frequently-asked
questions with a trip through the ol' archives. However, instead of doing a
FAQ on a single book, I'd rather do a FAQ on the Book of the New Sun itself.
After all, this is the one single book we're here for, anyway, with _Peace_,
etc. being a sort of frill. Besides, I don't think there are any *frequently
asked* questions on any of the minor Wolfe novels, whereas we've treaded over
certain points of the BotNS repeatedly.

I for one would be happy to serve on the  commitee for the "Book of the New
Sun FAQ beta version." It would not have to be a big deal, just a few
questions in the beginning, more after the list has seen it and wishes to make
suggestions.

We have some bigwigs in the exegesis department here (Mantis, Alga, James B.
Jordan, etc., though sadly John Clute has yet to join us), and this is just
the sort of thing they are trained for. It would be wonderful for the literary
skilled (and myself) to work on this monument to eternity for BotNS readers,
so to speak.

Incidentally, as for your survey, the BotNS gets a five, the rest get 0's. <g>

Let the FAQ happen,

Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>
President Pro-Tempore of USEJ
Prezidanto Dumtempa de USEJ
--------------------------------------------------
http://ttt.esperanto.org/usej/

---

From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 11:19:29 +0000

>certain points of the BotNS repeatedly.

Here are a few Wolfe FAQs which have nothing to do with BotNS and one which
does but isn't *about* BotNS: 

"What's up with Dennis Weer?"
"Which egg contained the hallucinogen?"
"What became of John V. Marsh? And what does VRT stand for?"
"How is the _Long Sun_ related to the _New Sun_?"
"What is a memory palace?"
"Where should I start reading Wolfe?"
"What Wolfe short story collections are there?" 
"What is Cheap Street? What other small-press Wolfe am I missing?"
"Did Gene Wolfe really invent Pringles?"

I agree that the most Frequently Asked Questions are about _BotNS_, because
it's the largest, densest(*), and most-read of Wolfe' works. But it's
hardly the only work about which the same questions come up again and again. 

(*)Actually, I think that _Peace_ might be denser. 

Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

---

From: CRCulver <crculver at aol.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 17:21:37 +0000

Wombat said:
<<Here are a few Wolfe FAQs which have nothing to do with BotNS and one which
does but isn't *about* BotNS: 

"Did Gene Wolfe really invent Pringles?">>

Ha, that is a different thing entirely. What you are talking about is a
general Urth-list FAQ, whereas Mantis and I were talking about single-book
FAQs. Nonetheless, your questions above are good, and really could help the
person new to the list. I should note that we should try to reduce the
possibility of spoilers for those who have not read certain books. For
example, I've yet to read _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_

<<I agree that the most Frequently Asked Questions are about _BotNS_, because
it's the largest, densest(*), and most-read of Wolfe' works.>>

Yes, and the BotNS needs exegesis to be fully appreciated. The first time I
read it, I treated it just as a sword-and-sorcery epic. But, after reading
about the many Christian allusions and references to Borges, I enjoyed it a
lot more.

<<(*)Actually, I think that _Peace_ might be denser.>>

That is a good possibilty, because _Peace_ never has what could be called a
straightforward narrative, there are always myriad meanings behind each
action. Whereas in the BotNS one could say "The uhlan was on horseback," and
be very clear about what you are trying to describe, _Peace_ is a different
story, literally. A FAQ on _Peace_ wouldn't be a frequently asked questions
list, it would be more of a running commentary.

---

From: William H. Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 00:05:33 +0000

>once!").  Yet nothing is ever actually done.

I have been reading this list quite a while and have read all the archives
at one time or another and I think I know why "nothing is ever actually
done" and why nothing is likely to be done this time. It is very easy to
make a list of Questions (perhaps not all of them Frequently Asked) about
virtually *any* Wolfe work, even very short stories, (remember the lengthy
discussions about "A Solar Labyrinth" and "Cues"?) but it is very hard to
come up with any definite answers that everyone (or even a majority) will
agree on (remember the lengthy discussions about "A Solar Labyrinth" and
"Cues"?).

I assume that this lack of agreement is at least part of the reason that
mantis (m.driussi at genie.com) said "I doubt people will want to do work on
THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS": in a very lengthy discussion of that work on
this list there was very little agreement about the answers to the
questions it raised or even about whether those questions had answers.

Actually, if a committee decides to write a FAQ containing the answers to
questions they can all agree on the answers to, then the FAQ should be
quite short and easliy completed.

In other words I this the answer to Rostrum's (Michael Straight

>Do most frequently asked questions about Wolfe's books have a single,

is "No."

>an easily searchable format?

I am not sure about the "less work" part; the archives are easily
searchable as plain text (I have downloaded all of them except the most
recent to my computer in this form) but because of inconsistencies in
references (different abbreviations, referring to a character by a nickname
or by a humorously altered form of the name, simple typos, etc.) as well as
the shear bulk of the material over several different files, it is
difficult to find specific information.

I suppose some sort of electronic index could be created, but I don't know
how to go about this. Editing the archives for consistancy (perhaps adding
tags for content) for plain text searching also seems a daunting prospect.

Does anyone one else have any ideas about this?

William Ansley

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 11:33:18 +0000

> difficult to find specific information.

Still, I think it would be a big improvement if either:

1.  Someone with programing knowledge would help attach a search engine to
the archives (I have no idea how big a job that would be), or 

2.  Each archive were available as a single large text file one could
search online with one's browser.

When I mentioned option #2 to Ranjit, it sounded like limited server space
at his site was the main obstacle.

As it is, I am regularly unable to find conversations in the archives when
I go back to try to find something someone wrote, largely because it takes
so long to search each of the archive volumes individually. 

-Rostrum

---

From: Jason Voegele <voegele.6 at osu.edu>
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 12:29:19 +0000

I'm a programmer, but I don't think it takes any programming skill 
whatsoever if you use some of the search forms provided by standard search 
engines.  HotBot, for example, provides a search form that you can embed 
within your Web page, and all you have to do is provide the domain through 
which it is supposed to search.  This would require a domain name 
specifically for the faq (such as www.wolfe-faq.com), so it may not be 
flexible enough.  It's worth looking into, though, and if it's not enough 
feel free to contact me and I'll see what I can put together for searching 
only those pages relating directly to the Wolfe FAQ.

Jason Voegele

-----Original Message-----
From:	Michael Straight [SMTP:straight at email.unc.edu]
Sent:	Thursday, January 28, 1999 11:33 AM
To:	urth at lists.best.com
Subject:	Re: (urth) Call 4 a FAQulty

-Rostrum

works
ranjit at best.com
whorl at lists.best.com