Subject: (urth) Three Fingers

From: Gareth Jelley <gjelley at btopenworld.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 00:38:38 +0000

Hello All,

I read 'Three Fingers' today, and I have to say I'm perplexed. That is my
response :o) At least, that is all I can come up with, at this time... I
thought it was an intriguing, well-written story, and it kept me reading,
and I thought the confrontation at the end was very effective... But what
did it mean? Or, what /could/ it mean? What do people think of it?

Very Best,

Gareth.

gjelley at btopenworld.com

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From: Alice K. Turner <aturner6 at nyc.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 05:23:10 +0000

A fine Whorl surname, should you be inclined that way. Where is this story
to be found?
-alga
---------
We like March, his shoes are purple,
  He is new and high;
Makes he mud for dog and peddler,
  Makes he forest dry.
--E.D.
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From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 15:01:22 +0000

The story is in THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR DEATH AND OTHER STORIES AND OTHER STORIES.

IIRC the story has been covered a bit here in the past -- you might check
the archives and see what has been said.

=mantis=

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From: Gareth Jelley <gjelley at btopenworld.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 19:49:49 +0000

> The story is in THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR DEATH AND OTHER STORIES AND OTHER
STORIES.

I've just finished 'Three Fingers', and am working my way through
tIoDDaOSaOS, in order. Each of the stories has been perplexing in its own
way, but 'Three Fingers' left me more satisfied, perhaps, than others I've
read so far.

I've read the archived messages, and I have to admit that I hadn't thought
of them as Disney villains, specifically... I'd simply pictured them as
sort-of generic bad-guys... The Disney link is no doubt there, it's just
that there are certain things in stories that no matter how clearly
sign-posted, I always miss.

But what do people think about this passage, and what it means?

"He tried to swallow it before she could get in another, and found that it
had become a red jelly bean too, and went down easily."

Do you think it is supposed to imply that the boy's perceptions are
changing, and that he is, thus, delusional? Or are his perceptions being
changed. Is he mad, basically?

Is the whole denoument, basically, just a confrontation between three caring
adults, and one mad child; and is the child, because he is delusional,
imagining this confrontation in terms and codes and conventions that he is
familiar with (and obssessed by)?

So all 'bad people' become bad people from cartoons, and all the nasty pills
people use become the sweets, dangerous in the same way the sweets in
Hansel-and-Gretel are dangerous?

I'm intrigued, anyway, and would be interested to hear from others :o)

Best,

G.

http://scribeoflight.livejournal.com - updated frequently

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 00:51:13 +0000

> familiar with (and obssessed by)?

The whole idea of ending a story with the revelation that the viewpoint
character is insane and has halucinated the whole story is so cliche and
(usually) so sterile, that I'm tempted to read another meta-interpretation
into the ending.

Perhaps we're supposed to imagine Wolfe turning in this story in which
Disney is the villain, but Disney is too scary and powerful so the editor
forces Wolfe to tack on a "not really, it's just the crazy delusion of a
lunatic" ending.

Note that the very next story in the collection ("Death of Dr. Island"),
is one which gets weirder and weirder for several pages, constantly
forcing you to revise your hypotheses of where/when the protagonist is and
what is going on and what sort of universe it is.  The answer is that old
cliche, that the protagonist is insane and in a mental institution --
except the twist is that none of the weirdness is the protagonist's
delusion.

-Rostrum

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From: Gareth Jelley <gjelley at btopenworld.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 01:10:23 +0000

> except the twist is that none of the weirdness is the protagonist's

I haven't read that one yet :o)

I don't mind about Spoilers. Thankfully ;o)

re: delusions - I don't think that /is/ an answer, or plausible reading, but
it struck me as being one way to explain what is going on...

Personally, I've got no idea how to read it - the most plausible reading
seems to be that we're supposed to be left clueless. A reading which can be
applied to many of Wolfe's stories.

Best,

G.

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From: Gareth Jelley <gjelley at btopenworld.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 22:56:10 +0000

> A fine Whorl surname, should you be inclined that way. Where is this story

What would I need do to be inclined that way? I'm perplexed :o)

But yes, it is an intriiiiiguing surname, to say the least :o)

Best,

G.

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