From: tony.ellis@futurenet.co.uk (Tony Ellis)
Subject: (urth) Re: fan fiction
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 10:10:18 +0100

Alga wrote:
> With due respect, Sarge, sir, this becomes a ridiculous argument, similar to
> that of science-meister scolex. The two of you are replacing Wolfe's text
> with text of your own, yours involving an elaborate background for Marsch
> and his for Aunt Jeanine.

Absolutely. Once you start writing your own story into the gaps in
someone else's, it's really not that hard to find connections suggesting
that it was there all along. "Rosencrantz and Guildstern Are Dead" is a
classic example of what I mean.

> I think the poem everyone "almost" remembers is the one by Dorothy Parker
> which ends "And I am Marie of Rumania." Alas, I can't find it in my two
> light verse collections which both lean heavily on dead Brits...

This live Brit has found it in his book of quotations, but unless this
is just an extract I'm not convinced it's what Wolfe had in mind:

		 Comment

                 Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
                 A medley of extemporanea;
                 And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
                 And I am Marie of Rumania.

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/