Subject: (urth) Berthold at the end

From: Kieran Mullen <kieran at ou.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:11:31 +0000

When do we stop worrying about spoilers?

     Extra space for those who are worried about such things.

     Dum dee dee.....

     Ok.  Able heals Berthold at the end.  Wolfe writes that this is 
particularly difficult.  Some have taken this to mean that some part of 
Berthold died and had to be replaced by part of Ben.    I don't see it. 
  It makes sense to me that since Berthold has been basically brain 
damaged for decades, it would be a bit hard to reverse.  Moreover, it's 
much harder to do than fixing a body.   How do you alter the way 
someone thinks and still have them be the same person at the end?   In 
addition IIRC  Berthold and Gerda are restored to their youth.  So it 
just makes sense that this is difficult.

    Of course, I don't understand the relationship between Able and Art 
or Berthold and Ben.  I have to reread "The Knight" and then reread 
"The Wizard."

    Sigh.

     Kieran Mullen

---

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:17:55 +0000

>      When do we stop worrying about spoilers?

The first of this year was the more or less agreement.

> particularly difficult. 

To be fussy, Arthur/Able writes that. Meaning that while Wolfe 
actually wrote the words, he wrote them in A's narratorial voice,
which - Wolfe being Wolfe - means we have to consider why he
wrote that and whether it is strictly speaking "true." I think it is
- I think A is the most "reliable" narrator in the Lupine oeuvre -
but we do need to keep these distinctions clear. 8*)

> or Berthold and Ben.

Oh, what a surprise ... Identity issues in a Wolfe novel...

I think that the *first* problem for TWK criticism must be an
understanding of the relationship between Mythgarthr and Earth.

--Dan'l
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