# explain yourself *The Urth list — 2 messages, 1 voices, 31 Jul 2002* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Michael Andre-Driussi *31 Jul 2002, 01:01* > Hartshorn wrote: > But it is obvious. > > The fact that the Ascians can speak *only* in the phrases known as Correct > Thought matches the fact that Orwell's inhabitants of Oceana will one day > speak **only** in Newspeak. > > But there is no real-life correspondence to this: the Koreans may have > chanted Maoist slogans, but they were not **forbidden** to use other words > or phrases. > > Only in Orwell's 1984 (and arguably in some SF books written since then) > does this concept of total linguistic replacement arise. > > I agree, however, that the style of the quotes is very close to Maoism Hartshorn and I seem to be on the same wavelength, fwiw. I, too, agree that the style is close to Maoism. I don't know if I've been published saying that (I almost certainly talked about it online -- maybe Jeff Wilson remembers better than I do), but in studying the very question regarding Ascia I've had an authentic little red book for about ten years now. I looked at it fairly closely. If I'd have found something like "x:the Just Man as Theseus:Tale of the Boy Named Frog," believe me, I would have been delighted, my efforts would have borne fruit, and I would have published the finding. I never said that the little red book had nothing to do with Ascian Approved Texts. I can further elaborate and say that, imho, based upon my own labor comparing the texts, there is actually less there than appears on first or third blush, but even so I would never eliminate it from the palette. =mantis= Sirius Fiction booklets on Gene Wolfe, John Crowley 29 copies of "Snake's-hands" until OP! http://www.siriusfiction.com/ --- ### Michael Andre-Driussi *31 Jul 2002, 19:38 · follows Michael Andre-Driussi* Whoops. Corrections to follow. > If I'd have found something like "x:the > Just Man as Theseus:Tale of the Boy Named Frog," believe me, I would have > been delighted, my efforts would have borne fruit, and I would have > published the finding. That should be: "x" is to "the Just Man" as "Theseus" is to "The Tale of the Student and His Son" and/or as "Romulus and Remus" is to "The Tale of the Boy Called Frog" Because Theseus doesn't really apply to "The Tale of the Boy Called Frog" (and it is "Called," not "Named"). Sorry for the confusion. =mantis= SIRIUS FICTION booklets on Gene Wolfe, John Crowley Lexicon Urthus out of print! http://www.siriusfiction.com/ ---