Another PF Inspiration?

Matthew Keeley05 Feb 2008, 05:19

Does the plot of this series sound like PF at all to anyone? It seems like something Wolfe could have read in his youth; I know the stories were pretty well-known into the 50's, when Disney did a rough adaptation of some of the stories with Patrick McGoohan, star of The Prisoner, a rather Lupine show. Anyone read these? I gather some are still in print I gather (though the Wikipedia entry more or less gives away the entire plot). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Syn -Matt

David Duffy05 Feb 2008, 06:42

↳ in reply to Matthew Keeley

Has he reviewed it elsewhere? It doesn't go too deeply into analysis (after all it is a review), though he mentions the possibility of 3rd or 4th iterations of Chris. I can give more details if people are interested. David Duffy.

| David Duffy (MBBS PhD) ,-_|\ | email: davidD at qimr.edu.au ph: INT+61+7+3362-0217 fax: -0101 / * | Epidemiology Unit, Queensland Institute of Medical Research \,-./ | 300 Herston Rd, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia GPG 4D0B994A v

brunians at brunians.org05 Feb 2008, 08:12

↳ in reply to Matthew Keeley

Yo ho ho, a pirate AND a smuggler AND a highwayman! What a guy! .

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Does the plot of this series sound like PF at all to anyone? It seems like something Wolfe could have read in his youth; I know the stories were pretty well-known into the 50's, when Disney did a rough adaptation of some of the stories with Patrick McGoohan, star of The Prisoner, a rather Lupine show. Anyone read these? I gather some are still in print I gather (though the Wikipedia entry more or less gives away the entire plot). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Syn -Matt _______________________________________________

brunians at brunians.org05 Feb 2008, 08:13

↳ in reply to David Duffy

Please do. .

9 quoted lines

Has he reviewed it elsewhere? It doesn't go too deeply into analysis (after all it is a review), though he mentions the possibility of 3rd or 4th iterations of Chris. I can give more details if people are interested. David Duffy. -- | David Duffy (MBBS PhD) ,-_|\ | email: davidD at qimr.edu.au ph: INT+61+7+3362-0217 fax: -0101 / * | Epidemiology Unit, Queensland Institute of Medical Research \,-./ | 300 Herston Rd, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia GPG 4D0B994A v _______________________________________________

Matthew Keeley05 Feb 2008, 15:43

↳ in reply to brunians at brunians.org

And a vicar! That's what really struck me. -Matt

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On Feb 5, 2008 8:12 AM, <brunians at brunians.org> wrote: Yo ho ho, a pirate AND a smuggler AND a highwayman! What a guy!

brunians at brunians.org05 Feb 2008, 16:32

↳ in reply to Matthew Keeley

AND his name is Christopher! I think you might be onto something. .

7 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

And a vicar! That's what really struck me. -Matt On Feb 5, 2008 8:12 AM, <brunians at brunians.org> wrote:

Yo ho ho, a pirate AND a smuggler AND a highwayman! What a guy!

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David Duffy05 Feb 2008, 22:02

↳ in reply to David Duffy

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On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, David Duffy wrote: Has he reviewed it elsewhere? It doesn't go too deeply into analysis (after all it is a review), though he mentions the possibility of 3rd or 4th iterations of Chris.

Actually, he doesn't mention further iterations and says the maze is unicursal ;) OK. This is in the NYRSF Jan issue, only one page. Generally liked it, though found a bit Catholic ;) "Angriest and most fun" most amusing claim: "any character in any Wolfe novel whose emotional response to any event is deeper than seems exactly appropriate is fairly likely to be the protagonist of that novel in a guise we have not yet encountered". So, he implies that as he read it he was suspicious of i) Ignacio crying; ii) "We are almost dead certain" that on P 23-24, the man whose chicken is stolen is Chris [see P 310]. comparisons: Severian - tall and thin, seen as dark; excel in fighting; charismatic; repressed extreme emotions; attractive to (untrustworthy) women; torturers; God speaks to them directly; inhumanly acure moral judgements; write confessions. It seems to me this equally applies to Latro and Able though. difference: too certain in faith, "Savaranola-intense" reason for confession: convince the reader that "life as a pirate [is] a good preparation for becoming a priest". Well, self-justification anyway. And ends: "The reader may envy the sea-foam and clarity of that past, and would be there with him in a flash of trance, if given entry. But the reader may also take [the] final sentence as a dreadful warning: Danger! We are the people. We are you." Well you either like Clute's writing style or you don't. Cheers, David Duffy.