interview questions

Gerry Quinn · 06 Jan 2011, 01:22 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 01:22:19 -0000
Subject: (urth) interview questions
References: <SNT123-w10BBB7D745C74EEEB9882ACF0A0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <79E60599C1BC4E16B47084AAAF5EE2E8@jill>


From: "Lee Berman" <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>
>>Jerry Friedman: And I could believe the main purposes of "'A Story'" are 
>>to be
>>interesting in itself and to reveal the character of the replacement 
>>Marsch.
>
> Sounds right. Perhaps we could add that, as for the stories of Halvard, 
> Foila and
> Loyal to the Group of 17, the story also reveals life in the environment 
> of the story
> teller.
>
>>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes: That is a good answer to why _Wolfe_ put it there. But 
>>why did
>>_"Marsch"_ write it?  Wolfe is too careful a writer (imo) to simply make 
>>such a
>>"stylistic" decision and _not_ consider its "meaning."
>
> At the lazaret we had the excuse of trying to win the hand of Foila for 
> the storytelling.
> Here I don't think we'll get as clear a texual meaning. Maybe VRT was 
> doing his best to
> play anthropologist, pretending to repeat a story which is, in fact, his 
> own story.

Wolfe explaind in the interview I quoted that he was trying to make all 
three novellas contemporaneous, at least on the surface.  If he is going to 
delve into the history (prehistory?) of the Annese, who else could tell it?


> Moreover, perhaps we should consider that this was one of WOlfe's earlier 
> efforts. Perhaps
> the story contest of BotNS was invented to address just such a weakness in 
> 5HoC. Hm..now
> I forget..what was the premise which generated the stories told in IGJ?

Same old thing - a storytelling contest.  I consider the structure of 5HoC 
infinitely more elegant.  Storytelling contests remind me of that Wolfe tic 
"First explain how you know that I know that..." of which 5HoC is also 
mercifully free.

- Gerry Quinn

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