666 Saltimbanque St. [was Re: a false coin]

Jerry Friedman · 03 Jan 2011, 21:55 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: jerry_friedman at yahoo.com (Jerry Friedman)
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:55:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (urth) 666 Saltimbanque St. [was Re:  a false coin]
In-Reply-To: <201612.1423.qm at web84108.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <201612.1423.qm at web84108.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <817181.81903.qm at web114709.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

I'm sure I've read that 666 is a hint that the Gene Wolfes, having egotistically 
cut themselves off from humanity by cloning, could become the Beast.  The 
author's use of his own name suggests that he and everyone have this evil 
potential.  And yes, maybe that some acts are evil regardless of intent.

I believe this, and I'd thought it was widely believed, but maybe I generalized 
from one reader to all.

If I'd been alert enough when that guy asked for interview questions, my first 
suggestion would have been how Wolfe feels about cloning now that it is or may 
soon be possible, and in light of the possibility that Chris in Pirate Freedom 
was cloned.  (My next suggestion would have been about torture.)

Jerry Friedman is sure that "saltimbanque", meaning "clown", couldn't possibly 
be a clown-clone pun, because that would be beneath Wolfe.  Not.

________________________________
From: DAVID STOCKHOFF <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Mon, January 3, 2011 11:21:39 AM
Subject: Re: (urth) a false coin

How would you see that? Perhaps you are thinking of the author as acrobat or 
mountebank (that is, a hint that Wolfe is playing the trickster), but it could 
also mean that the existence of true evil is false: evil is a performance. 

or is evil in the act and not the intent? that might be overthinking.

--- On Mon, 1/3/11, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

>From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>Subject: (urth) a false coin
>To: urth at lists.urth.net
>Date: Monday, January 3, 2011, 12:31 PM
>
>
>[p.s. David, I was reminded of an addition to our discussion of  "Author as 
>Demiurge": Gene Wolfe's
>home address on St. Croix is 666 Saltimbanque St.- the Satanic Performer] 

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