Fiction, halves, twins

David Stockhoff · 26 Apr 2010, 23:55 · from 2010-April.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:55:54 -0400
Subject: (urth)  Fiction, halves, twins
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1272316504.989.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.1.1272316504.989.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <4BD6280A.3070705 at verizon.net>

I haven't read the book yet myself, but here are the Arcana minus their 
various interpretations. Anyone want to take a shot?  (no "silver 
bullet" pun intended, I swear.)

Number 	Name
None (0 or 22) 	The Fool 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_%28Tarot_card%29>
1 	The Magician / The Juggler 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_%28Tarot_card%29>
2 	The High Priestess / The Popess 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_High_Priestess_%28Tarot_card%29>
3 	The Empress <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empress_%28Tarot_card%29>
4 	The Emperor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_%28Tarot_card%29>
5 	The Hierophant / The Pope 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hierophant_%28Tarot_card%29>
6 	The Lovers <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lovers_%28Tarot_card%29>
7 	The Chariot <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chariot_%28Tarot_card%29>
8 or 11 	Justice <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_%28Tarot_card%29>
9 	The Hermit <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hermit_%28Tarot_card%29>
10 	Wheel of Fortune 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Fortune_%28Tarot_card%29>
11 or 8 	Strength / Fortitude 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_%28Tarot_card%29>
12 	The Hanged Man / The Traitor 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hanged_Man_%28Tarot_card%29>
13 	Death <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_%28Tarot_card%29>
14 	Temperance <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_%28Tarot_card%29>
15 	The Devil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_%28Tarot_card%29>
16 	The Tower / Fire 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tower_%28Tarot_card%29>
17 	The Star <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_%28Tarot_card%29>
18 	The Moon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_%28Tarot_card%29>
19 	The Sun <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_%28Tarot_card%29>
20 	Judgment / The Angel 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_%28Tarot_card%29>
21 	The World <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_%28Tarot_card%29>

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 07:27:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Subject: (urth) Fiction, halves, twins
Message-ID: <124061.73786.qm at web37603.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I agree that, in the end, it just doesn't make much sense if the whole thing was a ruse. Or rather, the first half of the book would make sense. But after George gets arrested, or at least after he gets released and isn't likely to be receiving letters any more, it just gets too weird and difficult to figure out how and why Bax would keep up with the fiction.

But speaking of "halves," I've been wondering about that. The book is 44 chapters long. The middle chapters 22 and 23 have the same name ("Silver Bullets"). Somewhere in a review, Neil Gaiman mentioned that he thought the Tarot was significant and the 22 major arcana cards might have something to do with that. I'm not quite sure where he would go with that, though.

I do wonder if the two halves of the book are at all connected to the ideas of twins. I wouldn't go so far as to say that one half was written by one twin and the second half secretly written by another, but, nonetheless, something is going on there.

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