Several things...

Alex David Groce · 04 Jan 1999, 14:56 · from urth-v0022.mbox · original

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From: "Alex David Groce" <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Several things...
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 14:56:15
Message-ID: <urth-v0022-0065 at digest.urth.net>
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On Jan 4, 11:42am, Kevin J. Maroney wrote:
> >	Has anyone ever noticed that THERE ARE DOORS is very close to 1st
A> >person?  If you replace the word "he" with "I" you have something almost
> >indistinguishable from 1st person.  Green is always (as far as I can tel=
l)
> >referred to as "he". =20
> ....
> >Any ideas on what this means? =20
>=20
> I have the feeling--based on only one reading of the novel; Wolfe's
> contemporary fantasy novels don't inspire me to re-read them---that "Mr.
> Green" is not his name. If I recall correctly, the only source for that
> name was a mental hospital, and as you point out, the narrator strenously
> avoids calling him anything other than "he".=20
>=20
> Alternately, it may be the case that Green is the first-person narrator of
> the novel but, due to mental disorders, is disassociated from his own
> identity to the point where he views events happening to himself as
> happening to a third party.

	Hmmm...  Despite having heard a good deal before reading it of the
ambiguity of TAD, I think it's (for Wolfe especially) very heavily weighted=
 in
favor of the alternatte worlds/fantasy explanation, and against the "the gu=
y is
nuts" explanation.  The name identification (a nice piece of Wolfe dialogou=
e,
where the receptionist thinks "Green" is giving her his name when he's
answering a question about what the word "viridian" means) does come from t=
he
receptionist at the mental health institute, but later, after being called =
Mr.
Green several times, the protagonist wonders how she knew his name--so eith=
er
it really is his name, or both he and the hospital are confused...
	No, contemporary fantasy isn't Wolfe's forte, although I found THERE
ARE DOORS much more enjoyable the CASTLEVIEW.


--=20
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

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