From: "James Wynn" 
Subject: FW: (urth) Edogawa Ranpo
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 10:32:39 -0600

mantis asked
Now Crush, what trace, however obscure, led you here [to Edogawa Ranpo]?

Crush responds
This is the sort of libertine association that wedges itself so firmly in
the craw of Roy and others and to which Agia once referred as "imagination
plus". Yet, the fact remains that my starting point was associating Crane
(from the Long Sun) with the god Ranpo:
http://gene-wolfe.tripod.com/chems.htm

So here's a peek into the twisted way I think. Imagine you're a writer who
is a fan of Edogawa Ranpo whose detective fiction (like your own) is known
for it's weird touch.  You also have a long time interest in alchemy. You
naturally know that the word comes from the same origin as Egypt, which
intersects with your other interest in ancient mythology. So eventually you
come across a picture of the Egyptian *god* Chem standing next to this other
god, Ranpo. Don't you think that god other would stick in your mind? Now
your writing a story about a guy who is also a something of a detective, and
your going to riff of concepts based on the word "chem". Maybe you'd work
Edogawa in in the same way you have in the past with Jorge Borge....

Nice theory, but the probability wave shrinks when one learns that the
author's name is not "Ranpo" but "RaMpo". The connection is still plausible
when one considers the name game Wolfe plays throughout the Long Sun with
connections as tenuous as Silk = Sand. Yet, clearly the connection is now as
thin as a spider's thread (if I may play the game as well).

--- Crush




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