Short Story 45: Feather Tigers

David Stockhoff · 09 Sep 2012, 21:46 · from 2012-September.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:46:23 -0400
Subject: (urth) Short Story 45: Feather Tigers
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On 9/9/2012 5:36 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 9/9/2012 6:53 AM, Sergei SOLOVIEV wrote:
>> Another point - I had a very strong feeling that Quoquo and Dondiil
>> remind somewhat Japanese, that
>> is, these alien rabbits have the culture that GW wanted to be
>> over-respectful to authority and hierarchical,
>> which is bad for science (this concerns also "body language"). I
>> considered the story
>> as fiercely humoristic about science based on authority.
>
> I can see rabbits as suggesting the caricatured Japanese rodentlike 
> dentition common in Wolfe's youth, and perpetrated by Bugs Bunny at 
> least once. Considering Wolfe's recently mentioned wish to do Roger 
> Rabbit fan fiction, such a connection cannot be dismissed.
>

Something else suggests itself to me. To the extent that the story is 
"about" America in Vietnam, it could almost just as well be "about" 
Japan in Burma and for that matter China. They took their opportunity to 
rape Asia too, as Westernized and colonizing Asians. So the caricature 
of overcivilized Japanese bunnies hunting "tigers" has several layers of 
irony. (Now I can only see Bugs!)

And what do they say about land wars in Asia...?

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