time looping

jonathan mann · 10 Jul 2003, 00:54 · from urth-v0307.mbox · original

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From: jonathan mann <jemann at maxamine.com.au>
Subject: Re: (urth) time looping
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 10:24:02 +0930
Message-ID: <urth-v0307-3617 at digest.urth.net>
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mantis wrote

> Time travel "message to self" loop thingie.  In Heinlein you have DOOR IN=
TO
> SUMMER.  In movies you have either "Groundhog Day," where the narrative
> hero is going through every loop from beginning to optimized end; or
> something like "Donny Darko," where it is the final loop only and thus mo=
re
> like DOOR INTO SUMMER (and Severian's Narrative).

There's also FREE LIVE FREE, in which the loops 'optimize'=20
the person being looped.  Never let it be said that Wolfe=20
underexplores a theme.  Maybe there's more than one Wolfe,=20
and different books with similar themes are by different=20
versions.

Actually, I just came up with a more serious idea: couldn't=20
the looping be analogous to the auctorial drafting process?=20
  We already know that Wolfe goes through a lot of drafts,=20
each of which 'optimizes' and ties the books more closely=20
together.  What if each iteration of this added another=20
iteration to Severian?

--jabiru
[Delurking now.  Animal or animal products, right?]

--=20

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