Short Story 60: Forelesen part 1

Gerry Quinn · 14 Sep 2014, 22:47 · from 2014-September.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 23:47:42 +0100
Subject: (urth) Short Story 60: Forelesen part 1
In-Reply-To: <CAF1072x68Ug9KPuB=PECUayLt7Rd0qW=92HcUTJjjrwHvrK0OA at mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAF1072x68Ug9KPuB=PECUayLt7Rd0qW=92HcUTJjjrwHvrK0OA at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <54161B0E.1010000 at bindweed.com>


On 14/09/2014 19:10, Marc Aramini wrote:

>  The blue book is titled /How to Drive/. The rules include never 
> picking up hitchhikers, waving, shouting, or invading the privacy of 
> other drivers. He looks out the window and sees a bald man with a gold 
> tooth and a mole looking at him from the window of a nearby house, and 
> wonders that the man is not him at any age, because he feels it should 
> be. Edna accuses him of reading the red book when he voices this 
> sentiment.
>
> The red book's cover shows people surrounding a winged being. The left 
> side is printed in scarlet in a language he doesn't understand, though 
> he does not believe the translations match up very well. The black 
> print describes the twelve natures of Death and the Dead:
>

Looks like the red pill and blue pill of the Matrix, about twenty five 
years early, only in book form!  [Anyway, the form should be irrelevant.]

I did a cursory internet check and found no precursors for a red/blue = 
reality/dream trope (except an unconvincing red-only pill from a 1990 
film).  Probably just coincidence, but it struck me when I read Marc's 
post.  Of course the red and blue pills are someging of a meme now.

- Gerry Quinn
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