Subject: (urth) VRT Take III

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 20:36:08 +0000

M. Borski a ecrit:

> Terran anthropologist John Marsch has allegedly splashed down at
> Roncevaux on Sainte Anne. This argues for a document trail which
> the authorities could easily follow up on. 

Mildly intoned: It does indeed argue for a document trail upon which 
the Annese authorities could easily check. However, "John V. Marsch"
is a prisoner of the St Croix authorities, and, given the apparent
political situation between the sister worlds, for them to check up 
on this paper trail (while I doubt not that they could, in a pinch, 
do so) would be rather less easy. At any rate, in the questionings
of "Marsch," it seems clear that his interrogators do not believe 
that he is of Earth origin (in which disbelief they are, of course, 
correct). Less clear but palpable: They also do not suspect him of
being an abo; they think he is a spy of the (human) Annese government.
Plausible conclusions: (1) they do not in fact have reliable 
information as to whether a Terrestrial anthropologist named "John 
(V.) Marsch" did or did not splash down at Roncevaux; (2) they do,
but believe the "John Marsch" in their hands to be an Annese spy
who took Marsch's identity.

> As for "'A Story,'" as I've argued before, it's probably been
> written during VRT's incarceration on Saint Croix (Victor makes
> reference to his prison writings), and the intromitted "V" may be
> his own personal idea--a further subsuming of the Marsch personna
> by appending his own first initial as John Marsch's middle initial. 

Certainly possible. And I agree that "A Story" is most likely a
"prison writing." I simply observe & maintain that the presence of
the quotation marks is ... odd ... and indicative. Of something.

> Also: do not forget that the detail about 'John' being the name of
> every abo boy is provided by VRT himself, writing as John Marsch. 

!!! Very good point.

> It may not be true, or more likely may be yet another attempt,
> either consciously or subconsciously, at linking his identity with
> the Earthborn anthropologist.

I guess the question then is: Should we consider "A Story" as having
_any_ truth-value whatsoever? If so, why?

--Dan'l

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

---

From: Peter Westlake <peter at harlequin.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 10:09:58 +0000

>M. Borski a ecrit:
...
>_any_ truth-value whatsoever? If so, why?

Compare M. Million's lesson in which he asks No. 5 and David about
the supposed abo artifacts. David argues that the artifacts were not
important in the lives of the abos compared to their religion and
culture, and appears to make up some examples - but those examples
agree in every detail with the descriptions in "A Story"! The trees
are there, and the flails made of sea-shells, and everything. This
is astonishing whether "A Story" is true or not - if not, how did
Marsch pick up those ex tempore bits of colour from David's lesson,
and if so, how could David possibly have known them?

Spectacled Bear.

(I'll read _Peace_ soon, honest...)