{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/usenet/45",
    "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": "usenet",
  "thread": {
    "id": 45,
    "subject": "Gene Wolfe: Castleview",
    "messages": 3,
    "voices": 3,
    "first": "1990-07-02T01:39:03+00:00",
    "last": "1990-07-05T17:17:58+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<11219@pucc.Princeton.EDU>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Geoff Alexander Cohen",
        "address": "gacohen at pucc.princeton.edu"
      },
      "date": "1990-07-02T01:39:03+00:00",
      "subject": "Gene Wolfe: Castleview",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, _Castleview_, which concerns a\nfamily moving from Chicago to an old-fashioned town called Castleview, in\nwhich it is possible to glimpse a castle off in the distance. (Thus the name!)\nIt started off pretty well, and I enjoyed Wolfe's first dealings with modern\nreality in novel form, and there are some pretty surprisingly enjoyable and yet\nmainstream-type characters (surprising in the mainstream-ness, not enjoyable.)\n\n     Now don't get me wrong, I'm a very big Wolfe fan, and would recommend him\nalmost without reservation as the best science-fiction author today.  However,\nI DIDN\"T GET IT!!!!! :(.  Yes, I'm used to him being pretty opaque, for example\nFifth Head of Cerberus, as I saw in a recent post.  But after a re-reading, I\nthink I got a lot (not all) of what he meant in that.  _There Are Doors_ is a\nlittle harder, but still excellent, and I was left with a sense of completion,\nif not closure.\n\n     But _Castleview_ left me cold, confused, and angry.  Could someone\nout there give some advice as to what happened?  In the words of Orson Scott\nCard himself, \"Altogether, one of the most disappointing books I've ever read.\"\nIt seems he was as confused as I.  Card says in another essay, \"I wish Gene\nWolfe would take pity on his not so smart readers and EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED!\"\nAmen!\n\nGeoff Cohen, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies\nPrinceton University.\n\nThis space intentionally left blank."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<STSSRAM.90Jul4202311@toward.unocal.COM>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Bob Myers",
        "address": "stssram at unocal.com"
      },
      "date": "1990-07-05T03:23:11+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe: Castleview",
      "in_reply_to": "<11219@pucc.Princeton.EDU>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 5,
          "text": "On 2 Jul 90 01:39:03 GMT, GACOHEN at pucc.Princeton.EDU (Geoff Alexander Cohen) said:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Geoff>      I just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, _Castleview_, which\nGeoff> concerns a family moving from Chicago to an old-fashioned town\nGeoff> called Castleview, in which it is possible to glimpse a castle\nGeoff> off in the distance. (Thus the name!)\n\nHmmm.  I used to live in a town in Illinois, about 35 miles northwest\nof Chicago, by the name of Fox River Grove.  Gene Wolfe lives in\nBarrington, about 5 miles towards Chicago.   Anyway, there _is_ a castle\nin Fox River Grove, and a restaurant across the street called Castleview...\n\nI gotta get this book."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<10419@paperboy.OSF.ORG>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Mark Brown",
        "address": "mbrown at tonic.osf.org"
      },
      "date": "1990-07-05T17:17:58+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe: Castleview",
      "in_reply_to": "<STSSRAM.90Jul4202311@toward.unocal.COM>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "In article <STSSRAM.90Jul4202311 at toward.unocal.COM>, stssram at unocal.COM\n(Bob Myers) writes:\n|> >>>>> On 2 Jul 90 01:39:03 GMT, GACOHEN at pucc.Princeton.EDU (Geoff\nAlexander Cohen) said:\n|> \n|> Geoff>      I just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, _Castleview_, which\n|> Geoff> concerns a family moving from Chicago to an old-fashioned town\n|> Geoff> called Castleview, in which it is possible to glimpse a castle\n|> Geoff> off in the distance. (Thus the name!)\n\nGeoff, re-read CASTLEVIEW slowly, this time with an eye for Arthurian\nLegend...you know, Camelot and all that.\n\nI'm lead to understand that it's *very* subtly done, and to get some of the\nreferences requires *extensive* knowledge of the Arthur Mythos...\n\nMark Brown   IBM AWD / OSF  |  \"The tricky part is common usage.\"\nThe Good     mbrown at osf.org |"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}