{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6750", "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": 6750, "subject": "Short Story 125: Sightings at Twin Mounds", "messages": 3, "voices": 3, "first": "2015-04-28T21:20:20+00:00", "last": "2015-04-28T23:36:33+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Robert Pirkola", "address": "rpirkola at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2015-04-28T21:20:20+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 125: Sightings at Twin Mounds", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This story continues to bug me but I really haven't come up with a way to make my theory really hang together as well as it should. —\nThe more Wolfe I have read, the more I see your point about functional, motivated prevarication. ?With that, some extra information that\nI have been backlogging regarding SATM:\n\nThe name Stanley J. Robakowski.\n\nAccording to my sources, the first name means \"lives by the stony grove\", which could imply a cemetery.\n\nRobakow appears to be Polish for \"worms\". ?\"-ski\" as a Polish suffix also seems to denote some noble lineage for the bearer.\nThis certainly continues to imply death and graves.\n\nNo ideas on the \"J\".\n\nThis story appears to be an extract from a book of the type popularized by Charles Fort. “I came across\nreference to Fort in annotations to H.P. Lovecraft's work that I had been recently reading. ?Within days,”\nMarc had mentioned Fort in his write-up for “All the Hues of Hell” a GW story written around the same time as SATM.\nI have Fort's works in my to-read pile, but haven't gotten around to it yet. “Might this be a better template than the avowed\nSasquatch book”\n\nI had previously questioned the function of the wendigo in the story, arguing that it was unnecessary to the way the story works\nother than to point us towards cannibalism. “It could also serve the function of being wholly allusive, pointing us towards”\nAlgernon Blackwood by way of his story “The Wendigo”.??This story seems to have little relation to SATM, but other?\nAB stories have interesting parallels.??For example, the werewolf story “The Camp of the Dog” featuring AB’s famous?\npsychic detective John Silence,?discusses the means by which a werewolf comes into being. It apparently is a psychic portion of a person that?\nis repressed, but which ultimately escapes, taking with it some portion of the physical matter of the person?\nless than the whole, so that it is a combination psychic/physical creature. The creature is largely?\ninvisible and the actions of the werewolf are unknown to the person that spawns it, and vice versa.?\nOther AB stories involving John Silence have interesting similarities as well, but my book is not before me at the moment so?\nI cannot reference them specifically. “In any event, \"Secret Worship\" is one, which involves a long-demolished monastic school\nreappearing to a former student when he visits the area. ?The former student engages in ghostly and diabolical\ninteraction with his former teachers. ?The story is written in a way that made me think of seeing the twin mounds through”\nthe eyes of Robakowski. “A couple of passages make this point.” I will try to supplement later. \t\t \t \t\t " } ] }, { "message_id": "<553FFE77.6010704@irit.fr>", "from": { "name": "Sergei SOLOVIEV", "address": "soloviev at irit.fr" }, "date": "2015-04-28T21:41:11+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 125: Sightings at Twin Mounds", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Dear Robert,\n\n\"robak\" may also come from slightly modified \"rybak\" - fisher -\n\nSergei Soloviev" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Robert Pirkola wrote:\nThis story continues to bug me but I really haven't come up with a way to make my theory really hang together as well as it should. \nThe more Wolfe I have read, the more I see your point about functional, motivated prevarication. With that, some extra information that\nI have been backlogging regarding SATM:\n\nThe name Stanley J. Robakowski.\n\nAccording to my sources, the first name means \"lives by the stony grove\", which could imply a cemetery.\n\nRobakow appears to be Polish for \"worms\". \"-ski\" as a Polish suffix also seems to denote some noble lineage for the bearer.\nThis certainly continues to imply death and graves.\n\nNo ideas on the \"J\".\n\nThis story appears to be an extract from a book of the type popularized by Charles Fort. I came across\nreference to Fort in annotations to H.P. Lovecraft's work that I had been recently reading. Within days, \nMarc had mentioned Fort in his write-up for “All the Hues of Hell” a GW story written around the same time as SATM.\nI have Fort's works in my to-read pile, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Might this be a better template than the avowed\nSasquatch book?\n \nI had previously questioned the function of the wendigo in the story, arguing that it was unnecessary to the way the story works\nother than to point us towards cannibalism. It could also serve the function of being wholly allusive, pointing us towards \nAlgernon Blackwood by way of his story “The Wendigo”. This story seems to have little relation to SATM, but other \nAB stories have interesting parallels. For example, the werewolf story “The Camp of the Dog” featuring AB’s famous \npsychic detective John Silence, discusses the means by which a werewolf comes into being. It apparently is a psychic portion of a person that \nis repressed, but which ultimately escapes, taking with it some portion of the physical matter of the person \nless than the whole, so that it is a combination psychic/physical creature. The creature is largely \ninvisible and the actions of the werewolf are unknown to the person that spawns it, and vice versa. \nOther AB stories involving John Silence have interesting similarities as well, but my book is not before me at the moment so \nI cannot reference them specifically. In any event, \"Secret Worship\" is one, which involves a long-demolished monastic school\nreappearing to a former student when he visits the area. The former student engages in ghostly and diabolical\ninteraction with his former teachers. The story is written in a way that made me think of seeing the twin mounds through \nthe eyes of Robakowski. A couple of passages make this point. I will try to supplement later. \t\t \t \t\t \n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Marc Aramini", "address": "marcaramini at gmail.com" }, "date": "2015-04-28T23:36:33+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Short Story 125: Sightings at Twin Mounds", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "A few quick points which may or may not be worth anything. It seems to me\nthat Wolfe looked at cultures with \"unexplained\" phenomena and saw that the\nAlgonquin and other Northeastern tribes had a pervasive myth of a creature\nwhich encapsulated unexplained eldritch evil, like a primitive version of\nthose who look for the supernatural or unexplained in modern times - thus\nthe Wendigo is there because it is an older version of the \"unexplained\",\nand he is using the UFOs to explain its random appearance - I always see\nthe UFOs as just passing through and randomly ripping the fabric of space,\nbut what if THEY are the basis of the Wendigo, and actually do take\nAlgonquin for some purpose - and one time, incidentally drag someone\nthrough their vortex who is also mistaken for a wendigo? However, there is\nno textual support for the aliens to be doing anything other than passing\nthrough. Thus, Wolfe tries to use the UFO phenomena to explain the Wendigo\none (but still, what's with the cannibalism, besides the Algonquin legend?)\n... And, despite the fact that I am quick to point out literary allusions\nin many of Wolfe's works, I am reluctant to pin an interpretation on\nreferences to other works UNLESS it is explicitly mentioned in the text\n(For example, Wolfe quotes T H White's The Godstone and the Blackymor in\nWhen the Bishop Sailed to Inniskeen ... and he basically just rewrote it\nwith a more spiritual but creepier ending, when you read the White memoir\n...). I feel like Wolfe was almost playing unfair in \"In Looking Glass\nCastle\" when he mentioned Guy de Maupassant but not The Horla, knowing damn\nwell how many short stories de Maupassant wrote ...\n\nIn any case,there is a fine irony that Stanley is so familiar with the park\nbut is actually exploring his own grave, something I think Wolfe would like." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 2:20 PM, Robert Pirkola \nwrote:\nThis story continues to bug me but I really haven't come up with a way to\nmake my theory really hang together as well as it should.\nThe more Wolfe I have read, the more I see your point about functional,\nmotivated prevarication. With that, some extra information that\nI have been backlogging regarding SATM:\n\nThe name Stanley J. Robakowski.\n\nAccording to my sources, the first name means \"lives by the stony grove\",\nwhich could imply a cemetery.\n\nRobakow appears to be Polish for \"worms\". \"-ski\" as a Polish suffix also\nseems to denote some noble lineage for the bearer.\nThis certainly continues to imply death and graves.\n\nNo ideas on the \"J\".\n\nThis story appears to be an extract from a book of the type popularized by\nCharles Fort. I came across\nreference to Fort in annotations to H.P. Lovecraft's work that I had been\nrecently reading. Within days,\nMarc had mentioned Fort in his write-up for “All the Hues of Hell” a GW\nstory written around the same time as SATM.\nI have Fort's works in my to-read pile, but haven't gotten around to it\nyet. Might this be a better template than the avowed\nSasquatch book?\n\nI had previously questioned the function of the wendigo in the story,\narguing that it was unnecessary to the way the story works\nother than to point us towards cannibalism. It could also serve the\nfunction of being wholly allusive, pointing us towards\nAlgernon Blackwood by way of his story “The Wendigo”. This story seems to\nhave little relation to SATM, but other\nAB stories have interesting parallels. For example, the werewolf story\n“The Camp of the Dog” featuring AB’s famous\npsychic detective John Silence, discusses the means by which a werewolf\ncomes into being. It apparently is a psychic portion of a person that\nis repressed, but which ultimately escapes, taking with it some portion of\nthe physical matter of the person\nless than the whole, so that it is a combination psychic/physical\ncreature. The creature is largely\ninvisible and the actions of the werewolf are unknown to the person that\nspawns it, and vice versa.\nOther AB stories involving John Silence have interesting similarities as\nwell, but my book is not before me at the moment so\nI cannot reference them specifically. In any event, \"Secret Worship\" is\none, which involves a long-demolished monastic school\nreappearing to a former student when he visits the area. The former\nstudent engages in ghostly and diabolical\ninteraction with his former teachers. The story is written in a way that\nmade me think of seeing the twin mounds through\nthe eyes of Robakowski. A couple of passages make this point. I will try\nto supplement later.\n_______________________________________________" } ] } ] }