Alden Weer's Dimensionality

David_Lebling · 04 Nov 1998, 09:50 · from urth-v0021.mbox · original

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From: David_Lebling at avid.com
Subject: (urth) Alden Weer's Dimensionality
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 09:50:45
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Wombat said:
> Alden Weir is a brilliant 3-dimensional figure...

Really?  I've read _Peace_ several times and still don't know what to make
of Weir.  Judging from past posts on this list I don't think I'm alone.
For example, there seems little agreement on whether Weir is a murderer
(much less a multiple murderer).  What sort of man is he?  He's something
of a manipulator of women, as evidenced by his various relationships.  I
can't say we know much more about him than that.  For the narrator and
ostensible protagonist of a novel, he is remarkably invisible.  He really
tells us very little about himself, and consequently people who comment on
the novel tend to go all mantic or even borskian on us.

I'm happy to hear from the assembled wisdom that I'm all confused here, but
I each time I read _Peace_ I think I know more about Olivia, or Julius
Smart, or even the Golds, father and daughter, than about Weir.

     Dave Lebling
     (aka vizcacha)
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

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