From: William Ansley <wansley@warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Mr. Crowley, what went on in your head?
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2000 00:29:30 

>Had a short, unprepared interview with JC. Have not yet played the tape
>back, but at one point I asked questions from the group and scribbled
>notes, so this is from my notes. William, I forgot to ask about Edward
>Gorey. But my guess is that you are right--will ask next time. I will
>also amplify these answers, if need be, when I listen to the tape.
>

I have finally finished re-reading LB, much more slowly and carefully 
than the last time(s) I read it. I even took notes, but I can't say I 
feel like I have achieved a much greater insight into the book than 
before.

There is another likely reference to Edward Gorey's _The Unstrung 
Harp_ in Book 6, Ch. 1, section "Carrying a Torch":

------------------
[...] he was not any longer someone to whom things happened.
------------------

(This is Auberon, thinking of himself.)

Compare this to:

------------------
Though he is a person to whom things do not happen, perhaps they may 
when he is on the other side.
------------------

at the end of Gorey's book.

[...]

>So I hope the above is of some interest to at least part of the list.

I was greatly interested in your list of questions and answers and 
thank you for posting it. I have a few more questions I would like 
answers to. I will give one trivial and one perhaps not so trivial 
below. I have one more that I still need to work on, but I will send 
it to you later.

1. When Smoky comes to Edgewood for the first time, to marry Daily 
Alice, he meets her great-aunt, Nora Cloud, and her mother, Mrs. 
Drinkwater. There is an exchange between the two women. (This is in 
Book 1, Ch. 2, section "Lead Astray" on p. 31 of the Quality 
Paperback Book Club edition, which includes _Beasts_ and _Engine 
Summer_.)

------------------
"Cloud," said Mrs. Drinkwater darkly, scratching her ankle above a 
slip-on sneaker frayed about the big toe, "Cloud, I was lead astray."
------------------

Mrs. Drinkwater had asked Nora Cloud for advice about berrying and 
had collected a full bucket of berries, but says that she had been 
lead astray. This is never explained further that I could see.

This section contains a great deal of foreshadowing, but this 
particular part of it seems to lead nowhere, although it seems quite 
significant at the time it occurs.

I would like to know if it was intended to be significant and, if so, of what?

2. In Book 6, Ch. 2, section "What a Surprise", p. 533 Sophie's long 
lost daughter Lilac has come back and is trying to tell her mother 
how she got back to Edgewood, describing her route. Lilac mentions 
passing the Summer House where Auberon the elder lived in his last 
days.
 
------------------
"Auberon," Sophie said.
"No," Lilac said. "Not _Au_beron."
------------------

(The "Au" are in italics, but not the rest of the name.)

What does Lilac mean here, that the correct version of the name is Oberon?

If you want to (and can) pose these question to Crowley, wonderful. 
If not, I understand completely.

William (picky, picky, picky) Ansley


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