Subject: (urth) TSH: I liked it!

From: Kieran Mullen <kieran at nhn.ou.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:02:00 +0000

I finished "The Sorcerer's House"  last week and I really enjoyed  
it.   First, it has an engaging story that is more transparent than,  
oh "Peace" or "The Fifth Head of Cerberus" (it's not transparent of  
course, just *more* transparent).   I enjoyed it as a story, even  
without all the puzzles.   Second, the story was one where Wolfe's  
spare style of "show, don't tell" really shines.  The novel is based  
on a set of letters, and the recorded dialog is pretty brief and there  
are no long prose descriptions, as one might expect in handwritten  
letters.   It's a book I will enjoy re-reading, trying to suss out who  
is really who and when.

SPOILER

SPOILER

SPOILER

   The picture of Ted that Doris has looks like the man who stopped  
Iuean from beating up Baxter (p.134).   That man is later identified  
as the Black, the father of Iuean and Emlyn.  However, Doris does not  
seem to know about faerie.  (On occasion I suspected her of knowing  
more than she ever let on.)    I think that Ted and Black are also  
twins, one magical and the other not (as Black himself states is often  
the case).   "He" is also seen talking to Lupine and vanishing.   I  
don't know if this is Ted or Black.  What is the wet thing left behind  
on Doris's bed with the initials TAG?

   I need to re-read the book, for many reasons.   One is, how are we  
to think of Baxter?  Is Baxter really "an evil guest?"   He needles  
his brother cruelly, write seductive letters to his brother's wife,  
and undoubtedly kills him.   He is a convicted fraud.  How good is he  
really?  I admit I sometimes like my protagonists to be a bit more  
clear cut - either heroes or anti-heroes.  I am not sure what we are  
supposed to think of Baxter.   He does confess his criminal behavior  
to a number of women.  However, a real fraud doesn't hide such  
things.  He tells you about them in such detail that it makes him even  
more believable.   OTOH, I don't fault Baxter as much if he keeps  
offering a genuine olive branch to George and the latter insists on a  
duel to the death.

   The only clanging false note for me was the rape/assault of Cathy  
Ruth.   Not only did it seem gratuitous, it would have set off a whole  
slew of consequences that involve the police, hospitals,  
investigations, etc. These consequences are never played out.

    The quest for wisdom/George where Winkle leads Baxter into faerie  
and  a divine voice speaks to Baxter also seems a bit out of place.    
I think I don't understand it well enough, yet.

   I am also intrigued by the "unfinished numen."    Emlyn points out  
that Baxter is in big trouble due to the incorrectly terminated  
"spell."    How is that resolved?  Is it simply that he gets more  
money and more fish?  Or does it go deeper than that?

     I was trying to figure out how to explain to someone how  
different Wolfean fantasy is compared to any other writer.   I tried  
to imagine how Winkle would be handled, say, by Terry Brooks.  I could  
see the facefox pull the whole focus of the book as  "cewl."   I don't  
know how to put it into words the difference, how Wolfe lets faerie be  
"other"  without it just becoming  a set of  DnD character stats.

   Anyway,  I liked this much more that "An Evil Guest."   In AEG the  
laconic storytelling was frustrating to me and unnatural to the  
storyline.  AEG also jumped about in genres and I *still* don't  
understand what really happened.     The ambiguities in TSH  makes  
more sense as the authors of the various letters have much to hide,  
and many of them are resolved (to my satisfaction) in the story itself.

Kieran Mullen

---

From: Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:50:06 +0000

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 3:02 PM, Kieran Mullen <kieran at nhn.ou.edu> wrote:

> “The picture of Ted that Doris has looks like the man who stopped Iuean from
> beating up Baxter (p.134). — That man is later identified as the Black, the
> father of Iuean and Emlyn. ?However, Doris does not seem to know about
> faerie. ?(On occasion I suspected her of knowing more than she ever let on.)
> ? ?I think that Ted and Black are also twins, one magical and the other not
> (as Black himself states is often the case). — "He" is also seen talking to
> Lupine and vanishing. — I don't know if this is Ted or Black. ?What is the
> wet thing left behind on Doris's bed with the initials TAG”

I've not figured that one out either. It's not a body part, and it's
apparently square or rectangular, and is likely made out of wood or
metal, since paper wouldn't stand being wet and there aren't many
usable materials which could have initials stamped on it. I thought
that it might be the triannulus, but the shape isn't right. And the
initials are a mystery: the T might be for Ted, and the G for Griffin,
but A? The character index lists exactly one character who has any
name starting with 'A': Ambrosius. As in, the supposed usurper of
Goldwurm.

Perhaps Ted pulled a Bax, if you will: shacking up with a mundane wife
for a while, and then vamoosing for faerie when he leveled up. At
least, this is the best explanation of Ted I have so far, though it
still doesn't explain what the object is or why he/his ghost visited
Doris.

> “I am also intrigued by the "unfinished numen." ? ?Emlyn points out that
> Baxter is in big trouble due to the incorrectly terminated "spell." ? ?How
> is that resolved” “Is it simply that he gets more money and more fish” “Or
> does it go deeper than that”

As I've written earlier, the numen is really frustrating. It's like
AEG's time travel or clones - an extremely powerful game-breaking
mechanic which apparently is used only for trivial things. The entire
novel could be controlled by numen. Or nothing but some fish and the
werewolf.

-- 
gwern

---

From: Thomas Bitterman <tom at bitterman.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:59:14 +0000

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 3:50 PM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> >  The picture of Ted that Doris has looks like the man who stopped Iuean
> from
> > beating up Baxter (p.134).   That man is later identified as the Black,
> the
> > father of Iuean and Emlyn.  However, Doris does not seem to know about
> > faerie.  (On occasion I suspected her of knowing more than she ever let
> on.)
> >    I think that Ted and Black are also twins, one magical and the other
> not
> > (as Black himself states is often the case).   "He" is also seen talking
> to
> > Lupine and vanishing.   I don't know if this is Ted or Black.  What is
> the
> > wet thing left behind on Doris's bed with the initials TAG?
>
> that it might be the triannulus, but the shape isn't right.
>

It's a monogrammed handkerchief.   She mentions (in the next paragraph but
one) that she was sure Ted was crying.  That's why it was wet.
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