{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/581",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 581,
    "subject": "Pennington Covers; Suzanne Delage; Recommendations",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1998-05-09T12:02:46+00:00",
    "last": "1998-05-10T23:21:01+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0010-0120@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "David_Lebling",
        "address": "david_lebling at avid.com"
      },
      "date": "1998-05-09T12:02:46+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Pennington Covers; Suzanne Delage; Recommendations",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Covers:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "The Pennington covers made me think of _The Dying Earth_."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Suzanne Delage:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I was prompted to reread this one, and I like the \"universe conspiring\nagainst them\" explanation, though immortality and vampirism are fun,\ntoo.\n\nThe \"extraordinary thing\" is that he has no memory of ever meeting this\nwoman whose life is parallel to his, yet it's beyond the realm of\npossibility that he never saw her or met her.  When he merely glimpses\nher daughter, who looks just like her, he's bowled over.  He _must_ have\nseen and been bowled over by Suzanne at some point in his earlier life.\n\nYou could erect an edifice of supposition much like that whereby\nSeverian1 is tranformed into Severian2; who has kept these star-crossed\nlovers apart for their entire lives? What eventuality does their\nnon-meeting prevent? Is their never-to-be-born child a new Hitler, an\nAnti-Christ?\n\nThis, I think, is the Borgesian reading of the story.\n\nOr maybe she's just a vampire..."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Recommendations:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I heartily agree on _The Circus of Dr. Lao_; the affinity of the Green\nMan with Apollonius and the Hound of the Hedges is obvious in\nretrospect. Apollonius's fortune-telling is great.\n\nI'd like to add Keith Roberts' _Pavane_ and _The Chalk Giants_. Roberts\nhas done other stuff, but these two seem to me to be the ones Wolfe fans\nwill appreciate the most.\n\nChristopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint\nto \"Tracking Song.\"\n\nNot just _Riddley Walker_, but anything by Russell Hoban is worth\nreading.  Most of his stuff is \"for children,\" but _The Mouse and His\nChild_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age. If\nyou have children, and you don't already know the \"Frances\" books, run,\ndo not walk, to the nearest library or bookstore and get them. They are\nnearly perfect.\n\n     --viz\n     (david_lebling at avid.com)"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0010-0127@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Peter Westlake",
        "address": "peter at harlequin.co.uk"
      },
      "date": "1998-05-10T23:21:01+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (urth) Pennington Covers; Suzanne Delage; Recommendations",
      "in_reply_to": "<urth-v0010-0120@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 3,
          "text": "At 12:02 1998/05/09 -0400, David_Lebling at avid.com wrote:\nRecommendations:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "...\nI'd like to add Keith Roberts' _Pavane_ and _The Chalk Giants_. Roberts\nhas done other stuff, but these two seem to me to be the ones Wolfe fans\nwill appreciate the most."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "_Kaeti and Company_ is interesting too. It's several stories, in\nwhich leading characters are played by a kind of metacharacter,\nKaeti, who discusses them with the author between stories. Also\n_Molly Zero_ requires careful reading, though more for nuances\nof character than to understand the plot."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Christopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint\nto \"Tracking Song.\""
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Hey, I could read that again, after developing my literary detective\nskills by reading Wolfe, and see if I understand the ending! Not that\none is meant to, I suspect."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Not just _Riddley Walker_, but anything by Russell Hoban is worth\nreading.  Most of his stuff is \"for children,\" but _The Mouse and His\nChild_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "A caveat: _The Mouse and his Child_ might be frightening for young\nchildren. It is quite frank about animals eating each other, and there\nare some moments of sudden violence as a result. Save it till they're\nold enough to appreciate that it's one of the best books of all time.\nWell, one of *my* favourites, anyway.\n\nI'd like to add a recommendation: _In Limbo_, by Christopher Evans.\n\nPeter."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}