VRT Take III

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 12 Nov 2000, 20:36 · from urth-v0030.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: (urth) VRT Take III
Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 20:36:08
Message-ID: <urth-v0030-0114 at digest.urth.net>
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M. Borski a ecrit:

> 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.=20

Mildly intoned: It does indeed argue for a document trail upon which=20
the Annese authorities could easily check. However, "John V. Marsch"
is a prisoner of the St Croix authorities, and, given the apparent
political situation between the sister worlds, for them to check up=20
on this paper trail (while I doubt not that they could, in a pinch,=20
do so) would be rather less easy. At any rate, in the questionings
of "Marsch," it seems clear that his interrogators do not believe=20
that he is of Earth origin (in which disbelief they are, of course,=20
correct). Less clear but palpable: They also do not suspect him of
being an abo; they think he is a spy of the (human) Annese government.
Plausible conclusions: (1) they do not in fact have reliable=20
information as to whether a Terrestrial anthropologist named "John=20
(V.) Marsch" did or did not splash down at Roncevaux; (2) they do,
but believe the "John Marsch" in their hands to be an Annese spy
who took Marsch's identity.

> 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.=20

Certainly possible. And I agree that "A Story" is most likely a
"prison writing." I simply observe & maintain that the presence of
the quotation marks is ... odd ... and indicative. Of something.

> 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.=20

!!! Very good point.

> 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.

I guess the question then is: Should we consider "A Story" as having
_any_ truth-value whatsoever? If so, why?

--Dan'l

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