Digest urth.v009.n002

Tony Ellis03 Apr 1998, 10:50original

03/04/98 10:12 RE>Digest urth.v009.n002

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Rostrum wrote: ...Didn't someone report (somewhere in the archives) that Wolfe has said that no one was murdered by Alden Weer in Peace?

In the online People interview, Wolfe was asked if Weer killed many of the other characters in the book and responded "Let me think about that... no. I don't think so, no."

I'd always understood that quote to mean that, Weer did not kill "many" of the other characters of the book, not that he didn't kill anyone. I doubt Wolfe would have had to think about it if Weer was entirely innocent, and it seems pretty plain that he at least (accidentally) killed the boy at the top of the stairs.

Absolutely, yes. I was offering that quote because it related to the no-one-was-murdered-by-Weer question, not because I thought it confirmed it! Sorry if that wasn't clear. I think it's beyond question that Weer kills the boy, but I've yet to be convinced that he kills anyone else...

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Pedro Jorge wrote: ...Then, the narrator is Jean-5? and his brother is Jean 6? (I can't remember if the brother is younger or older).

First time in here. Just to say that my idea was always that the brother was not a clone but rather a control in the experiment. But, who is Number 1?

There seem to have been several posts along these lines, including Rostrum's ingenious "Jeannine =3D Jean 9", but surely the narrator is number 5 because he is the 5th head of Cerberus, which is to say, of his family. As his father says, if he was counting clones the narrator would be Number Fifty, not five. This is why Aunt Jeannine initially says "That number's either far too low or too high." It's too low because there are more like 50 clones, and it seems too high to her because she doesn't know about David. But if you count her, the narrator, his "father", Mr Million and David you get five. As for who is Number One, I'm not sure that question applies, but I suppose you could say it's the father, as he's the current master of the brood.

Pedro Jorge Romero04 Apr 1998, 22:10original

↳ follows, by subject match Tony Ellis

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There seem to have been several posts along these lines, including Rostrum's ingenious "Jeannine = Jean 9", but surely the narrator is number 5 because he is the 5th head of Cerberus, which is to say, of his family. As his father says, if he was counting clones the narrator would be Number Fifty, not five. This is why Aunt Jeannine initially says "That number's either far too low or too high." It's too low because there are more like 50 clones, and it seems too high to her because she doesn't know about David. But if you count her, the narrator, his "father", Mr Million and David you get five.

Aunt Jeannine is counting members of the family (that's why she says "Living" after that). She does not seem to be aware of what is going on. Actually I think that the number refers to the generation of clones. #5 is the fifth and his "father" is #4. Each previous one creating the next one. We know the numbers do not apply to members of the family, because when David goes to the lab, he is plain David. And if the "father" is using the number because he and #5 share the same name (Gene Wolfe, that is), #2 would be a far more obvious choice. David is not a clone, because he has blond hair while #5 is brown haired.

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As for who is Number One, I'm not sure that question applies, but I suppose you could say it's the father, as he's the current master of the brood.

Well Mr Million is the great-grandfather of #5, so that would make him #2. The "father" is number #4 and the grandfather is mentioned in the text and he would be #3. So, who is #1 is an open question. Best Pedro Jorge (who too wants to be a lurker again, but Fifth is too good a book not to discuss about it)

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