Subject: (urth) Pennington Covers; Suzanne Delage; Recommendations

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Sat, 09 May 1998 12:02:46 +0000

The Pennington covers made me think of _The Dying Earth_.

>>Suzanne Delage:

I was prompted to reread this one, and I like the "universe conspiring
against them" explanation, though immortality and vampirism are fun,
too.

The "extraordinary thing" is that he has no memory of ever meeting this
woman whose life is parallel to his, yet it's beyond the realm of
possibility that he never saw her or met her.  When he merely glimpses
her daughter, who looks just like her, he's bowled over.  He _must_ have
seen and been bowled over by Suzanne at some point in his earlier life.

You could erect an edifice of supposition much like that whereby
Severian1 is tranformed into Severian2; who has kept these star-crossed
lovers apart for their entire lives? What eventuality does their
non-meeting prevent? Is their never-to-be-born child a new Hitler, an
Anti-Christ?

This, I think, is the Borgesian reading of the story.

Or maybe she's just a vampire...

>>Recommendations:

I heartily agree on _The Circus of Dr. Lao_; the affinity of the Green
Man with Apollonius and the Hound of the Hedges is obvious in
retrospect. Apollonius's fortune-telling is great.

I'd like to add Keith Roberts' _Pavane_ and _The Chalk Giants_. Roberts
has done other stuff, but these two seem to me to be the ones Wolfe fans
will appreciate the most.

Christopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint
to "Tracking Song."

Not just _Riddley Walker_, but anything by Russell Hoban is worth
reading.  Most of his stuff is "for children," but _The Mouse and His
Child_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age. If
you have children, and you don't already know the "Frances" books, run,
do not walk, to the nearest library or bookstore and get them. They are
nearly perfect.

     --viz
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

---

From: Peter Westlake <peter at harlequin.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 23:21:01 +0000

At 12:02 1998/05/09 -0400, David_Lebling at avid.com wrote:

>...

_Kaeti and Company_ is interesting too. It's several stories, in
which leading characters are played by a kind of metacharacter,
Kaeti, who discusses them with the author between stories. Also
_Molly Zero_ requires careful reading, though more for nuances
of character than to understand the plot.

>Christopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint

Hey, I could read that again, after developing my literary detective
skills by reading Wolfe, and see if I understand the ending! Not that
one is meant to, I suspect.

>Child_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age.

A caveat: _The Mouse and his Child_ might be frightening for young
children. It is quite frank about animals eating each other, and there
are some moments of sudden violence as a result. Save it till they're
old enough to appreciate that it's one of the best books of all time.
Well, one of *my* favourites, anyway.

I'd like to add a recommendation: _In Limbo_, by Christopher Evans.

Peter.