Subject: (urth) FREE LIVE FREE

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 11:39:03 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Spoilers ho!
 
I asked this question a few weeks ago, but perhaps I was so brief that no
one knew what I was talking about.
 
Mr. Free tells the salesman that he hid the device "under a sign."  On the
last page, after the salesman has retrieved his son and rejoined the
others (who seem to have already been "improved" by the time machine), the
salesman sees the sign, and it seems that Wolfe intends readers to say
"Ah-ha! That's what Mr. Free meant."
 
I did not say "Ah-ha!" and would like to very much.  What is the sign?
Any help would be received with gratitude.
 
I really enjoyed this book and found it to be Wolfe's most humorous novel
(right up there with his robot detective stories, in my book).
 
-Rostrum

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From: Michael Bowman <bvmi at odin.cc.pdx.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 09:47:05 +0000

I've got a question on this novel. I've heard the Zeising edition is 
different from the Tor edition. Is this true? And if so, in what way?

Michael Bowman
bvmi at odin.cc.pdx.edu

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 20:27:00 +0000

Reply:  Item #7562733 from URTH at LISTS.BEST.COM@INTERNET#

Michael Bowman,

>From URTH-MAN EXTRAORDINARY:

"B15. FREE LIVE FREE
      "Ziesing (hb) 1-8, 12-84, 496pp, $45.00 . . . "
      "Tor (hb) 93248-0, 11-85, 403pp, $16.95 . . . "

Textual Variations

"P1. FREE LIVE FREE
     "About 4000 words were dropped from the Zeising edition,
     including one chapter.  The order of the other chapters
     was changed slightly and a chronology was added as end
     matter (this latter dropped in the UK editions)."

=mantis=

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From: Michael Bowman <bvmi at odin.cc.pdx.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 14:54:18 +0000

>      matter (this latter dropped in the UK editions)."

Wow. That's a pretty major difference between editions. It sounds like it 
would be worthwhile to get ahold of the Ziesing edition. Thanks.

Michael Bowman
bvmi at odinc.c.pdx.edu

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 00:59:00 +0000

Reply:  Item #9690381 from URTH at LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00#

Michael Bowman,

Re: the different editions, from Clute's STROKES:

"Even the limited edition of the book [FREE LIVE FREE] . . . was so
clear and compulsive in the telling that it could be read at one long
go.  Slightly sharpened at points . . . and shorn of the dithery
Chapter 43 of the original version, FREE LIVE FREE now flows with an
unbroken liquid precision from this world to the last one, from dream
to a magically-achieved reality" (p. 162).

=mantis=

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From: Tony Ellis <tellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 15:31:28 +0000

RE>FREE LIVE FREE                            26/09/97

I've just discovered this list, which looks like a lot of fun. Half my Wolfe books are at my old address, however, so apologies in advance if I'm not the most frequent (or accurate) contributor.

>"Ah-ha! That's what Mr. Free meant."

It's years since I read this one from cover to cover, but I thought Free specifically said he that hid the device "in a wall" (although he certainly spoke of putting it under a sign as well). The way I remember the ending, it is this "in a wall" reference that Osgood recalls when he comes across the others, and the "Ah-ha" moment is when we realise that this means that the time machine is built into the front door of Free's house. Or am I making a complete fool of myself?

Somebody please put Rostrum and I out of our misery!

>     matter (this latter dropped in the UK editions)."

Could some kind person send this chronology to the Urth-list for the benefit of benighted UK readers like me? I'm satisfied that I "understand" Free Live Free, but I never did get Ben Free's to-ing and fro-ing through time completely straightened out in my mind. And anyway, I'm curious.

Tony.

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From: Derek Bell <dbell at maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 18:37:32 +0000

In message <199709261528.IAA04849 at lists1.best.com>, Tony Ellis writes:
>It's years since I read this one from cover to cover,

	Same here.

>The way I remember the ending, it is this "in a wall" reference that
>Osgood recalls when he comes across the others, and the "Ah-ha"
>moment is when we realise that this means that the time machine is
>built into the front door of Free's house.

	I don't think you're making a fool of yourself at all; I
think Wolfe said somewhere that some people hadn't realised the
significance of some flowers that a character saw through a window. In
fact, Wolfe implied that the flowers were blooming in the "wrong"
season, that it's a different season outside the front of the house to
the season seen through the window.

>Could some kind person send this chronology to the Urth-list for the =
>benefit of benighted UK readers like me?

	I agree, provided it does not anger the great god K'op-eeriit.

	Tercel