Weer's House

Wolfe said in the interview with James B. Jordan: "I wanted to do the rooms that were recreations and rooms that [Weer] had known as a very young man and I didn't think that anybody would actually do that. That it had to be a supernatural stick or a mental quirk or something of that sort." I think this means the house didn't exist...just my opinion. Perhaps the other listees can get more out of it. Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html

Hmmm... I don't have it with me (I always end up answering these on campus where my little Wolfe library isn't handy) but isn't there an essay in CASTLE OF DAYS, titled "Peace of My Mind" or such, where Wolfe complains about people thinking of the museum house as an eldritch Poe-like (not that I'd imagine Wolfe thinks Poe-like is much of an insult) device. He says that it's much more normal than some tend to think, then talks about an old knife of his that is a kind of "memory house" all in itself? Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if the essay was implying Weer really built such a house or not. I'll have to re-read it.

----------------- My novel Peace has just been published in Britain.... Colin Greenland has reviewed it kindly in the London Times Literary Supplement, but what we are doing here at Aussiecon Two strikes me as proving that I am right and he is wrong. Let me quote a bit of his review: "Drawing on the energies of the past, he wanders through the house, whose rooms seem to change about him. Weer remembers designing it and 'interspersing among the functional rooms of my home certan "museum rooms" ', 'duplicating or nearly duplicating certain well-remembered rooms whose furnishings had fallen to me by inheritance'. The sheer Poe-like oddness of this contrivance is the metafictional trick." Mr. Greenland supposes--in his review, at least--that to come accross odd corners of one's past in odd corners of one's house (which is what Alden Dennis Weer does in Peace) is, as H. P. Lovecraft might have said, eldritch. -from "Peace of My Mind" in Castle of Days ----------------- I don't think Wolfe is being fair to Mr. Greenland here. Obviously, if all Wolfe had done was have ADW find items that brought back memories in "odd corners" of a conventional, stable house then Mr. Greenland wouldn't have written what he did. However, I don't think I understand or think I don't agree what Mr. Greenland is saying about metafiction. But, since the quote is out of context, I guess I am not being fair, either! Wolfe says he didn't think anyone would actually build a house such as Weer describes designing in Peace. After reading Peace, I believe that Weer would have built such a house. Wolfe is just that good! I think the anti-house camp has expended some convincing ammunition, but you need not waste any more on me. I prefer to stay here in my bunker and preserve my illusions. William Ansley