Subject: (urth) AEG: Dr. Lao and Woldercan

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:53:33 +0000

Back on the 14th, Allan Anderson wrote:
> To snip a perhaps apropos phrase from Dr. Lao's Wikipedia summary,"..the
> mythical city of 'Woldercan', populated by doubles of the townfolk..."

This was in the context of the spelling of Woldercan, so perhaps not enough
attention was paid to it. A day or two later, I googled the quote and found
out that the Wikipedia summary in question is of the movie, not the book. So
I researched the book online for a while and concluded that the mentioned
"doubles" were not in the book. I may be wrong about that; I just don't
know.

Anyway, I was disappointed because, if there were some sort of analogs of
people on Woldercan, that would be a simple solution to the problem James
Wynn has raised about what Wolfe could have meant by his remark about
Cassie going to Woldercan to find Reis. I doubted that Wolfe would have
referenced the movie, rather than the book, upon which it is only loosely
based. So I blew it off.

Then I was reminded that Wolfe used references from the Oz movie in FLF, so
I may have been wrong to dismiss the possibility of him using the movie
version of Dr. Lao as a source in AEG. If there are duplictes of humans on
Woldercan, it eliminates the need for hypothetical time travel and other
problematic solutions.

What say you?

-Roy

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From: Dave Tallman <davetallman at msn.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:41:54 +0000

Roy C. Lackey wrote
> Woldercan, it eliminates the need for hypothetical time travel and other

I find that solution very unsatisfying. Even if Woldercan contains 
duplicates of everyone on Earth (highly problematic -- how could such a 
wild place support them?) or duplicates of humans who came there (a 
little better -- it could be the original or an impostor who returns), 
how could Cassie be sure that the double would love her, or be enough 
like Bill for her to love?

The movie does have  a feature that might be a clue. It's called "The 
Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" because Tony Randall plays seven parts. This is 
probably another indication that the main characters play multiple roles.

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From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:01:37 +0000

>>  If there are duplictes of humans on
> wild place support them?) or duplicates of humans who came there (a little 
> better -- it could be the original or an impostor who returns), how could 
> Cassie be sure that the double would love her, or be enough like Bill for 
> her to love?

If Wolfe intended this in his reference to the Woldercon of Dr. Lao, then I 
would presume that he intended it as a place like St. Anne, where being 
copied by native was a genuine possibility, maybe even a likely one, 
although probably not a foregone conclusion. If it were a *real* copy then 
it will love her because the real Reis did--if not immediately then when it 
learns that Reis loved her. This a lesson to be derived from The Fifth Head 
of Cerberus and the Whorl Chronicles (Long & Short Sun). If it is the *real* 
Reis, then the Cassie is relying on the quality of the copy.

Hmmm...in the first chapter of AEG, Chase makes copies of some photographs 
of Reis, tears up the originals. If this is intended as a metaphor then it 
does not bode well for the originals of any copies made on Woldercan. 
Perhaps *none* of the Reis's Cassie meets are real and the Reis she is going 
to find is not real either.

J.

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From: don doggett <kingwukong at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:56:29 +0000

> Woldercan, it eliminates the need for hypothetical time

I'd say that Wolfe tends to appropriate and redefine any bit of literature and pop culture that appeals to him, and that he is of just the right generation to have been a fan of the movie as well as the book. On the other hand, he does mention Charles Finney (the author of the The Circus of Dr. Lao) by name in AEG, so that tends to skew things towards the book. I own a few copies of it and no, the townsfolk are not duplicated in the novel. It's a wonderful book, Roy, if you haven't read it, and it has influenced many great writers, most notably Ray Bradbury. It definitely belongs in the canon of classic fantastic fiction.

Don

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:13:49 +0000

"don doggett" wrote:
>> I'd say that Wolfe tends to appropriate and redefine any bit of
literature and pop culture that appeals to him, and that he is of just the
right generation to have been a fan of the movie as well as the book. On the
other hand, he does mention Charles Finney (the author of the The Circus of
Dr. Lao) by name in AEG, so that tends to skew things towards the book. I
own a few copies of it and no, the townsfolk are not duplicated in the
novel. It's a wonderful book, Roy, if you haven't read it, and it has
influenced many great writers, most notably Ray Bradbury. It definitely
belongs in the canon of classic fantastic fiction.<<

Thanks, Don. I has been too many years since I read the book or saw the
movie, and I didn't remember Woldercan at all.

-Roy