Borski

Rex Lycanthrosaurus · 05 Nov 2006, 05:50 · from 2006-November.txt.gz

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From: lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm (Rex Lycanthrosaurus)
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 23:50:07 -0600
Subject: (urth) Borski
In-Reply-To: <51DC9CCE-7EA4-4390-8C4F-EB47F799086F at io.com>
References: <19ee41770611041904m5d58a416g7f5985728d8959d6 at mail.gmail.com>
	<51DC9CCE-7EA4-4390-8C4F-EB47F799086F at io.com>
Message-ID: <1162705807.8968.275026520 at webmail.messagingengine.com>

On Sat, 4 Nov 2006 22:29:21 -0600, "Adam Thornton" <adam at io.com> said:

> Second: Borski, _Long and Short_.  One of the essays is atrociously  
> edited: he keeps saying "Pendelton's" for the plural.  His editor  
> should have caught this.  

Self-published books do not have editors--not that that makes much
difference given the overall atrocious copyediting of Mr. Wolfe's works
by alleged professionals. Remember the Garvaon/Garsecg confusion in TWK
or the amphisbaena whose "one *hand* is dead" in _tBotNS_? If memory
serves, _Soldier of Sidon_ was originally scheduled to be published on
10-17, but then had its release date pushed back by two weeks; was it, I
wondered, because newly discovered typos needed to be corrected? (Kudos
to the TOR design team at any rate -- this is easily Wolfe's
best-looking book.)

Also, he doesn't mention, that I noticed,  
> one of the big hints in _5HC_ onomastics: "Phaedrus" means "Wolf";  
> "Phaedria" is therefore pretty obvious. 

*Groan.* Absolutely not true, and yet it's accepted by millions of
readers because Robert Pirsig makes the claim in _Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance_. (An interesting parallel is Mark Twain's
assertion that mummies were used for fuel in Egyptian trains -- a canard
that is still accepted today as fact.) Pirsig corrects the mistake in
his most recent introduction to _Zen_; rather, if memory serves (since I
can't find the book), Phaedrus means "light." 

And while the subject of werewolves has been broached, I wonder if Gene
Wolfe is fond of Warren Zevon's music, and especially his "Werewolves of
London." The name 'Zevon' apparently derives from the Russian Zevotosky,
"Son of the Wolf.' Ahooooo!

-- 
  Rex Lycanthrosaurus
  lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm

-- 
http://www.fastmail.fm - mmm... Fastmail...

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