Out of the office (was Re: Digest from urth@urth.net)

Ian Lamont · 03 Sep 2002, 12:59 · from urth-v0209.mbox · original
This is the message as the crawl holds it, before anything here touched it. What the conversation shows has been through ingest: transfer encodings decoded, attachments dropped, quote markers repaired, and the archiver’s ? resolved into quotation marks and dashes. Those repairs are judgements and some of them are wrong, which is what this page is for. Email addresses are obscured here as they are everywhere else on the site, so it is before our repairs rather than byte for byte.
From: Ian Lamont <ian_lamont at harvard.edu>
Subject: (urth) Out of the office (was Re: Digest from  urth at urth.net)
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 08:59:05 -0400
Message-ID: <urth-v0209-1651 at digest.urth.net>
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At 07:56 PM 8/24/02 -0400, you wrote:
>Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 17:29:10 -0700
>From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
>Subject: (urth) coldhouse
>Sender: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
>To: urth at urth.net
>Message-id: <3D683069 at webmail.nau.edu>
>MIME-version: 1.0
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Reply-To: urth at urth.net
>
>I had always assumed that the victim in the coldhouse prank was Sherry Gold's
>brother, who was not on the best of terms with his parents and wanted to move
>out (as I recall from a readiing a few years ago - or was he already 
>living in
>a boardinghouse?)  Perhaps he confronted Weer about his sister after 
>getting a
>job there (he was looking for a job, right?) and then Weer took the
>opportunity to play a convenient prank on him.  Of course, I need to read
>Peace again. Just my  two cents.  At least Gold has motive to get close to
>Weer, and Weer has reason to get rid of Sherry's brother.
>Marc Aramini
>
>
>
>--
>Message-Id: <v03130300b98c8ff35a70@[209.179.250.217]>
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:30:24 -0700
>To: urth at urth.net
>From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
>Subject: Re: (urth) coldhouse
>Reply-To: urth at urth.net
>
>Marc Aramini wrote:
> >I had always assumed that the victim in the coldhouse prank was Sherry 
> Gold's
> >brother, who was not on the best of terms with his parents and wanted to 
> move
> >out (as I recall from a readiing a few years ago - or was he already
> >living in
> >a boardinghouse?)
>
>The coldhouse prank was in 1938.
>
>Weer met Sherry around 1954.
>
>Sherry was only just born at the time of the prank (1954 - 16 = 1938).
>Which is rather weird, come to think of it.
>
>=mantis=
>
>
>Sirius Fiction
>booklets on Gene Wolfe, John Crowley
>29 copies of "Snake's-hands" until OP!
>http://www.siriusfiction.com/
>
>
>
>--
>From: StoneOx17 at aol.com
>Message-ID: <cb.272588ee.2a98413f at aol.com>
>Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 21:54:07 EDT
>Subject: Re:  (urth) The Coldhouse Prank
>To: urth at urth.net
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>Reply-To: urth at urth.net
>
>In a message dated 8/23/2002 7:57:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Robert Borski
>writes:
>
> > Stone Ox writes:
> > > Robert Borski argues quite eloquently that Ted Singer's father is the
>victim
> > > in the coldhouse prank.  I don't think this can be right, because the
>victim
> > > lived in a boarding house, was locked in on Friday, and nobody 
> noticed he
>was
> > > missing until he was discovered on Monday.  If the victim had had a wife
>or
> > > girlfriend, surely he would have been discovered sooner.
>
> > But look who imparts this information about the weekend tragedy and the
> > boarding house connection: Dan French, who, not having been a factory
> > employee at the time, is simply repeating the sanitized version of the 
> story
> > as it's been spun down through the years and perhaps even through
> > semi-official channels, since there's been a coverup. (I do, however, and
> > for obvious reasons, like the notion that the victim died on Friday.) He
> > doesn't remember the name of the victim and is completly unaware there 
> is an
> > even more sinister side to the entire episode, with a lone person being
> > responsible for the victim's death. As Den also reminds us earlier, such
> > stories have a way of becoming "both faded and embroidered by time," which
> > results in a further blurring of the details. And lastly when Dan French
> > tells the story of the sidhe, it deviates from the traditional in several
> > respects.
>
> > In other words I think there's plenty of reason to doubt his version of the
> > story.
>
>When Dan French is telling the story of the sidhe, it's an embedded story,
>and Wolfe has changed, or invented, many (if not all) of the embedded
>stories, so as to shed light on events in the book.  On the other hand, if we
>believe that Weer was the perpetrator of the coldhouse prank, I'd consider it
>part of Weer's own life story, and I'm much more reluctant to believe that
>Wolfe is altering the details here.  But this relates to the whole unicorn
>debate, which I think we could argue about for eternity.
>I just had the thought that maybe part of the reason there's been so much
>discussion about Mr. Tilly's story and Doris's story is that it's not clear
>whether they should be counted as embedded stories or not.
>
>-Stone Ox
>
>
>
>--
I am on vacation during the last week of August. I will get back to you 
after I return on Labor Day.

Thanks,

Ian Lamont
Assistant Web Site Manager
Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development Office
124 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: (617) 495-8183
Fax: (617) 495-0521

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<x-html>At 07:56 PM 8/24/02 -0400, you wrote:
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002
17:29:10 -0700
From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) coldhouse
Sender: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
To: urth at urth.net
Message-id: <3D683069 at webmail.nau.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Reply-To: urth at urth.net

I had always assumed that the victim in the coldhouse prank was
Sherry Gold's 
brother, who was not on the best of terms with his parents and
wanted to move 
out (as I recall from a readiing a few years ago - or was he already
living in 
a boardinghouse?)  Perhaps he confronted Weer about his sister
after getting a 
job there (he was looking for a job, right?) and then Weer took the

opportunity to play a convenient prank on him.  Of course, I
need to read 
Peace again. Just my  two cents.  At least Gold has motive
to get close to 
Weer, and Weer has reason to get rid of Sherry's brother. 

Marc Aramini



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Message-Id: <v03130300b98c8ff35a70@[209.179.250.217]>
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Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:30:24 -0700
To: urth at urth.net
From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at siriusfiction.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) coldhouse
Reply-To: urth at urth.net

Marc Aramini wrote:
>I had always assumed that the victim in the coldhouse prank was
Sherry Gold's
>brother, who was not on the best of terms with his parents and
wanted to move
>out (as I recall from a readiing a few years ago - or was he
already
>living in
>a boardinghouse?)

The coldhouse prank was in 1938.

Weer met Sherry around 1954.

Sherry was only just born at the time of the prank (1954 - 16 =
1938).
Which is rather weird, come to think of it.

=mantis=


Sirius Fiction
booklets on Gene Wolfe, John Crowley
29 copies of "Snake's-hands" until OP!
http://www.siriusfiction.com/



-- 
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From: StoneOx17 at aol.com
Message-ID: <cb.272588ee.2a98413f at aol.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 21:54:07 EDT
Subject: Re:  (urth) The Coldhouse Prank 
To: urth at urth.net
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Reply-To: urth at urth.net

In a message dated 8/23/2002 7:57:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
Robert Borski 
writes:

> Stone Ox writes: 
> > Robert Borski argues quite eloquently that Ted Singer's
father is the 
victim
> > in the coldhouse prank.  I don't think this can be
right, because the 
victim
> > lived in a boarding house, was locked in on Friday, and
nobody noticed he 
was
> > missing until he was discovered on Monday.  If the
victim had had a wife 
or
> > girlfriend, surely he would have been discovered
sooner.

> But look who imparts this information about the weekend tragedy
and the
> boarding house connection: Dan French, who, not having been a
factory
> employee at the time, is simply repeating the sanitized version
of the story
> as it's been spun down through the years and perhaps even
through
> semi-official channels, since there's been a coverup. (I do,
however, and
> for obvious reasons, like the notion that the victim died on
Friday.) He
> doesn't remember the name of the victim and is completly
unaware there is an
> even more sinister side to the entire episode, with a lone
person being
> responsible for the victim's death. As Den also reminds us
earlier, such
> stories have a way of becoming "both faded and embroidered
by time," which
> results in a further blurring of the details. And lastly when
Dan French
> tells the story of the sidhe, it deviates from the traditional
in several
> respects.

> In other words I think there's plenty of reason to doubt his
version of the
> story.

When Dan French is telling the story of the sidhe, it's an embedded
story, 
and Wolfe has changed, or invented, many (if not all) of the
embedded 
stories, so as to shed light on events in the book.  On the
other hand, if we 
believe that Weer was the perpetrator of the coldhouse prank, I'd
consider it 
part of Weer's own life story, and I'm much more reluctant to
believe that 
Wolfe is altering the details here.  But this relates to the
whole unicorn 
debate, which I think we could argue about for eternity.
I just had the thought that maybe part of the reason there's been so
much 
discussion about Mr. Tilly's story and Doris's story is that it's
not clear 
whether they should be counted as embedded stories or not.

-Stone Ox



-- 
http://www.urth.net/
To unsubscribe: send "unsubscribe" to
urth-request at urth.net
</x-html>
<html>
I am on vacation during the last week of August. I will get
back to you after I return on Labor Day.

Thanks,

Ian Lamont
Assistant Web Site Manager
Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development Office
124 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: (617) 495-8183
Fax: (617) 495-0521</html>

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