{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6824", "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": 6824, "subject": "Pandora + new reader questions", "messages": 5, "voices": 4, "first": "2019-10-02T18:07:32+00:00", "last": "2019-10-07T16:02:34+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Adam Greenhill", "address": "thrax at fastmail.com" }, "date": "2019-10-02T18:07:32+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Pandora + new reader questions", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hi all,\n\nRecent fan and first time mailer here. I've been working my way through Wolfe over the past months -- slowly, as I tend to survive on secondhand shops for my fiction reading, in which I have found slim pickings.\n\nThrough these means I picked up Pandora and read it (in a day) yesterday. I was surprised by the seeming earnestness of the book, and the lack of sci-fi elements, and a quick search through the list indicates it's not held in very high regard by some past contributors.\n\nOne contributor quoted another writer as saying, to paraphrase, that every writer must write a Sherlock Holmes pastiche sooner or later. But while reading I wondered whether it was a pastiche of Nabokov's *Lolita*. Firstly, the narrator's triple H initials are surely a tribute to Humbert Humbert. Secondly, the Foreword 'spoils' some of the ending in much the way that Nabokov's does (though I suppose this kind of structure is itself a pastiche of real narrative accounts that do similar things). Thirdly I think there are some similarities in theme, such as the corruption of youth (where HHH is a sort of Lolita and Aladdin Blue a sort of HH/Quilty), and in content, such as the Carmen references (explicitly invoked by the narrator in chapter 6, but also echoed by the character of Larry Lief (another alliterative name) -- military background, womanizer, etc).\n\nThis isn't to say that I think it's a particularly deep novel, but I do wonder if Wolfe threw a few things like this in to add interest to what is otherwise a fairly pedestrian crime story. Couldn't find this discussed in the list before." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "On a separate note: as I mentioned, it's hard to track Wolfe books down without engaging the daunting marketplace websites like eBay. I was wondering if anyone in the UK had any recommendations for where to find good copies of his works (preferably all of the same edition and all from the same dealer). I'm mainly looking to continue reading the Urth books after devouring the New Sun series earlier this year, though I might try to pick up the Best Of too.\n\n--\n\nHope this reaches everyone okay and looking forward to continuing correspondence with you all,\n\nAdam (Thrax)" } ] }, { "message_id": "<2ECFFEB9-7D5D-4DD6-BBBD-78FE11DE5663@gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com", "address": "matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com" }, "date": "2019-10-02T18:16:37+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Pandora + new reader questions", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I don’t know how many UK readers are here, but if you’re looking for reliable dealers, maybe check on the Tartarus Press website which stores carry their books? Wolfe never published with them, but I expect they’d be a *lot* of overlap between dealers that carry Tartarus stuff and dealers that carry Wolfe books. And I have had very good experiences with dealers I found through Tartarus.\n\nYou could also special order most of the in-print titles at most bookstores. \n\nSent from my iPhone" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Oct 2, 2019, at 2:07 PM, Adam Greenhill wrote:\n\nHi all,\n\nRecent fan and first time mailer here. I've been working my way through Wolfe over the past months -- slowly, as I tend to survive on secondhand shops for my fiction reading, in which I have found slim pickings.\n\nThrough these means I picked up Pandora and read it (in a day) yesterday. I was surprised by the seeming earnestness of the book, and the lack of sci-fi elements, and a quick search through the list indicates it's not held in very high regard by some past contributors.\n\nOne contributor quoted another writer as saying, to paraphrase, that every writer must write a Sherlock Holmes pastiche sooner or later. But while reading I wondered whether it was a pastiche of Nabokov's Lolita. Firstly, the narrator's triple H initials are surely a tribute to Humbert Humbert. Secondly, the Foreword 'spoils' some of the ending in much the way that Nabokov's does (though I suppose this kind of structure is itself a pastiche of real narrative accounts that do similar things). Thirdly I think there are some similarities in theme, such as the corruption of youth (where HHH is a sort of Lolita and Aladdin Blue a sort of HH/Quilty), and in content, such as the Carmen references (explicitly invoked by the narrator in chapter 6, but also echoed by the character of Larry Lief (another alliterative name) -- military background, womanizer, etc).\n\nThis isn't to say that I think it's a particularly deep novel, but I do wonder if Wolfe threw a few things like this in to add interest to what is otherwise a fairly pedestrian crime story. Couldn't find this discussed in the list before.\n\n--\n\nOn a separate note: as I mentioned, it's hard to track Wolfe books down without engaging the daunting marketplace websites like eBay. I was wondering if anyone in the UK had any recommendations for where to find good copies of his works (preferably all of the same edition and all from the same dealer). I'm mainly looking to continue reading the Urth books after devouring the New Sun series earlier this year, though I might try to pick up the Best Of too.\n\n--\n\nHope this reaches everyone okay and looking forward to continuing correspondence with you all,\n\nAdam (Thrax)\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "<026ed6b6-766a-672b-95bb-9202e7c9c0a9@casema.nl>", "from": { "name": "Ab de Vos", "address": "foxyab at casema.nl" }, "date": "2019-10-02T19:28:59+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Pandora + new reader questions", "in_reply_to": "<2ECFFEB9-7D5D-4DD6-BBBD-78FE11DE5663@gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hi,\n\nDon't you buy books through search engines like Eurobuch and AddAll or a \nplatform like Amazon? I order often from Amazon UK, Germany and Abe \nbooks. In fact both new and second hand books for the last 10 years.\n\nOp 2-10-2019 om 20:16 schreef matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "I don’t know how many UK readers are here, but if you’re looking for \nreliable dealers, maybe check on the Tartarus Press website which \nstores carry their books? Wolfe never published with them, but I \nexpect they’d be a *lot* of overlap between dealers that carry \nTartarus stuff and dealers that carry Wolfe books. And I have had very \ngood experiences with dealers I found through Tartarus.\n\nYou could also special order most of the in-print titles at most \nbookstores.\n\nSent from my iPhone\n\nOn Oct 2, 2019, at 2:07 PM, Adam Greenhill > wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Hi all,\n\nRecent fan and first time mailer here. I've been working my way \nthrough Wolfe over the past months -- slowly, as I tend to survive on \nsecondhand shops for my fiction reading, in which I have found slim \npickings.\n\nThrough these means I picked up Pandora and read it (in a day) \nyesterday. I was surprised by the seeming earnestness of the book, \nand the lack of sci-fi elements, and a quick search through the list \nindicates it's not held in very high regard by some past contributors.\n\nOne contributor quoted another writer as saying, to paraphrase, that \nevery writer must write a Sherlock Holmes pastiche sooner or later. \nBut while reading I wondered whether it was a pastiche of Nabokov's \n/Lolita/. Firstly, the narrator's triple H initials are surely a \ntribute to Humbert Humbert. Secondly, the Foreword 'spoils' some of \nthe ending in much the way that Nabokov's does (though I suppose this \nkind of structure is itself a pastiche of real narrative accounts \nthat do similar things). Thirdly I think there are some similarities \nin theme, such as the corruption of youth (where HHH is a sort of \nLolita and Aladdin Blue a sort of HH/Quilty), and in content, such as \nthe Carmen references (explicitly invoked by the narrator in chapter \n6, but also echoed by the character of Larry Lief (another \nalliterative name) -- military background, womanizer, etc).\n\nThis isn't to say that I think it's a particularly deep novel, but I \ndo wonder if Wolfe threw a few things like this in to add interest to \nwhat is otherwise a fairly pedestrian crime story. Couldn't find this \ndiscussed in the list before.\n\n--\n\nOn a separate note: as I mentioned, it's hard to track Wolfe books \ndown without engaging the daunting marketplace websites like eBay. I \nwas wondering if anyone in the UK had any recommendations for where \nto find good copies of his works (preferably all of the same edition \nand all from the same dealer). I'm mainly looking to continue reading \nthe Urth books after devouring the New Sun series earlier this year, \nthough I might try to pick up the Best Of too.\n\n--\n\nHope this reaches everyone okay and looking forward to continuing \ncorrespondence with you all,\n\nAdam (Thrax)\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Mo Holkar", "address": "lists at ukg.co.uk" }, "date": "2019-10-06T09:24:27+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Pandora + new reader questions", "in_reply_to": "<026ed6b6-766a-672b-95bb-9202e7c9c0a9@casema.nl>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "(UK reader) yeah I just use AddAll, to be honest. \nI don't know of any dealers who would specialize in this kind of thing.\n\nbest,\n\nMo" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 20:28 02/10/2019, you wrote:\nContent-Type: multipart/alternative;\n boundary=\"------------C74F7E87A41BF2C53FA42B97\"\nContent-Language: en-US\n\nHi,\n\nDon't you buy books through search engines like \nEurobuch and AddAll or a platform like Amazon? I \norder often from Amazon UK, Germany and Abe \nbooks. In fact both new and second hand books for the last 10 years.\nOp 2-10-2019 om 20:16 schreef \nmatthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "I don???t know how many UK readers are here, \nbut if you???re looking for reliable dealers, \nmaybe check on the Tartarus Press website which \nstores carry their books? Wolfe never published \nwith them, but I expect they???d be a *lot* of \noverlap between dealers that carry Tartarus \nstuff and dealers that carry Wolfe books. And I \nhave had very good experiences with dealers I found through Tartarus.\n\nYou could also special order most of the \nin-print titles at most bookstores.\n\nSent from my iPhone\n\nOn Oct 2, 2019, at 2:07 PM, Adam Greenhill \n<thrax at fastmail.com> wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 3, "text": "Hi all,\n\nRecent fan and first time mailer here. I've \nbeen working my way through Wolfe over the \npast months -- slowly, as I tend to survive on \nsecondhand shops for my fiction reading, in which I have found slim pickings.\n\nThrough these means I picked up Pandora and \nread it (in a day) yesterday. I was surprised \nby the seeming earnestness of the book, and \nthe lack of sci-fi elements, and a quick \nsearch through the list indicates it's not \nheld in very high regard by some past contributors.\n\nOne contributor quoted another writer as \nsaying, to paraphrase, that every writer must \nwrite a Sherlock Holmes pastiche sooner or \nlater. But while reading I wondered whether it \nwas a pastiche of Nabokov's Lolita. Firstly, \nthe narrator's triple H initials are surely a \ntribute to Humbert Humbert. Secondly, the \nForeword 'spoils' some of the ending in much \nthe way that Nabokov's does (though I suppose \nthis kind of structure is itself a pastiche of \nreal narrative accounts that do similar \nthings). Thirdly I think there are some \nsimilarities in theme, such as the corruption \nof youth (where HHH is a sort of Lolita and \nAladdin Blue a sort of HH/Quilty), and in \ncontent, such as the Carmen references \n(explicitly invoked by the narrator in chapter \n6, but also echoed by the character of Larry \nLief (another alliterative name) -- military background, womanizer, etc).\n\nThis isn't to say that I think it's a \nparticularly deep novel, but I do wonder if \nWolfe threw a few things like this in to add \ninterest to what is otherwise a fairly \npedestrian crime story. Couldn't find this discussed in the list before.\n\n--\n\nOn a separate note: as I mentioned, it's hard \nto track Wolfe books down without engaging the \ndaunting marketplace websites like eBay. I was \nwondering if anyone in the UK had any \nrecommendations for where to find good copies \nof his works (preferably all of the same \nedition and all from the same dealer). I'm \nmainly looking to continue reading the Urth \nbooks after devouring the New Sun series \nearlier this year, though I might try to pick up the Best Of too.\n\n--\n\nHope this reaches everyone okay and looking \nforward to continuing correspondence with you all,\n\nAdam (Thrax)\n_______________________________________________" } ] }, { "message_id": "<849d2bae-d267-4f1e-a892-ee01ee3b91c7@www.fastmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Adam Greenhill", "address": "thrax at fastmail.com" }, "date": "2019-10-07T16:02:34+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Pandora + new reader questions", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Thanks all. The Tartarus Books rabbit hole was a good shout for future reference. Somehow I'd not heard of AddAll before either!\n\nAdam" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Sun, 6 Oct 2019, at 10:24 AM, Mo Holkar wrote:\n(UK reader) yeah I just use AddAll, to be honest. \nI don't know of any dealers who would specialize in this kind of thing.\n\nbest,\n\nMo\n\n\n\nAt 20:28 02/10/2019, you wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Content-Type: multipart/alternative;\nboundary=\"------------C74F7E87A41BF2C53FA42B97\"\nContent-Language: en-US\n\nHi,\n\nDon't you buy books through search engines like \nEurobuch and AddAll or a platform like Amazon? I \norder often from Amazon UK, Germany and Abe \nbooks. In fact both new and second hand books for the last 10 years.\nOp 2-10-2019 om 20:16 schreef \nmatthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 3, "text": "I don???t know how many UK readers are here, \nbut if you???re looking for reliable dealers, \nmaybe check on the Tartarus Press website which \nstores carry their books? Wolfe never published \nwith them, but I expect they???d be a *lot* of \noverlap between dealers that carry Tartarus \nstuff and dealers that carry Wolfe books. And I \nhave had very good experiences with dealers I found through Tartarus.\n\nYou could also special order most of the \nin-print titles at most bookstores.\n\nSent from my iPhone\n\nOn Oct 2, 2019, at 2:07 PM, Adam Greenhill \n<thrax at fastmail.com> wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 4, "text": "Hi all,\n\nRecent fan and first time mailer here. I've \nbeen working my way through Wolfe over the \npast months -- slowly, as I tend to survive on \nsecondhand shops for my fiction reading, in which I have found slim pickings.\n\nThrough these means I picked up Pandora and \nread it (in a day) yesterday. I was surprised \nby the seeming earnestness of the book, and \nthe lack of sci-fi elements, and a quick \nsearch through the list indicates it's not \nheld in very high regard by some past contributors.\n\nOne contributor quoted another writer as \nsaying, to paraphrase, that every writer must \nwrite a Sherlock Holmes pastiche sooner or \nlater. But while reading I wondered whether it \nwas a pastiche of Nabokov's Lolita. Firstly, \nthe narrator's triple H initials are surely a \ntribute to Humbert Humbert. Secondly, the \nForeword 'spoils' some of the ending in much \nthe way that Nabokov's does (though I suppose \nthis kind of structure is itself a pastiche of \nreal narrative accounts that do similar \nthings). Thirdly I think there are some \nsimilarities in theme, such as the corruption \nof youth (where HHH is a sort of Lolita and \nAladdin Blue a sort of HH/Quilty), and in \ncontent, such as the Carmen references \n(explicitly invoked by the narrator in chapter \n6, but also echoed by the character of Larry \nLief (another alliterative name) -- military background, womanizer, etc).\n\nThis isn't to say that I think it's a \nparticularly deep novel, but I do wonder if \nWolfe threw a few things like this in to add \ninterest to what is otherwise a fairly \npedestrian crime story. Couldn't find this discussed in the list before.\n\n--\n\nOn a separate note: as I mentioned, it's hard \nto track Wolfe books down without engaging the \ndaunting marketplace websites like eBay. I was \nwondering if anyone in the UK had any \nrecommendations for where to find good copies \nof his works (preferably all of the same \nedition and all from the same dealer). I'm \nmainly looking to continue reading the Urth \nbooks after devouring the New Sun series \nearlier this year, though I might try to pick up the Best Of too.\n\n--\n\nHope this reaches everyone okay and looking \nforward to continuing correspondence with you all,\n\nAdam (Thrax)\n_______________________________________________" } ] } ] }