Marsch and VRT Redux

Robert Borski · 11 Nov 2000, 01:12 · from urth-v0030.mbox · original

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From: "Robert Borski" <rborski at charter.net>
Subject: (urth) Re: Marsch and VRT Redux
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 01:12:39
Message-ID: <urth-v0030-0112 at digest.urth.net>
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Dan'l Blattid having further amended his original post thusly:

<In other words: There _is_ an Earthborn anthropologist; that is
beyond any reasonable doubt.  What I am suggesting is that his
_name_ is not John V. Marsch. VRT kills him, and takes "John V.
Marsch" as his name when he "returns" to civilization.

<As evidence, I've mentioned the abosity of the name and the detail
of the passport; I'll mention also that the "V" in "John V. Marsch"
strikes me as likely equal to the "V" in VRT.>

Terran anthropologist John Marsch has allegedly splashed down at Roncevaux
on Sainte Anne. This argues for a document trail which the authorities could
easily follow up on. If there's no record that one John Marsch, late of
Earth and academia, has indeed arrived in-country via the proper channels,
it's never mentioned--as it almost certainly would be by the various
individuals who investigate his case prior to the junior officer.

As for "'A Story,'" as I've argued before, it's probably been written during
VRT's incarceration on Saint Croix (Victor makes reference to his prison
writings), and the intromitted "V" may be his own personal idea--a further
subsuming of the Marsch personna by appending his own first initial as John
Marsch's middle initial. If he did a clumsy job with the amending, this
might refer to the botched passport, especially if Victor has handwritten
the forged V in himself.

Also: do not forget that the detail about 'John' being the name of every abo
boy is provided by VRT himself, writing as John Marsch. It may not be true,
or more likely may be yet another attempt, either consciously or
subconsciously, at linking his identity with the Earthborn anthropologist.

Robert Borski

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