Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 11:11:10 -0700
From: maa32 
Subject: (urth) tease me?

Just a brief comment.  
It is obvious that Wolfe is teasing either myself or the member of the list 
who confirmed that his statement was a jest.  We can't say with any certainty 
who Wolfe would be more likely to tease.  Let's define my correspondence with 
Wolfe in terms of how we speak to one another.  I have not asked him any 
questions about Short Sun since last January, when he declined to answer a 
whole slew of them.  I haven't talked about my interpretations to him since 
then, because he says he doesn't like tromping out the definitive answer 
because it kills discussion and the magic of the work.  I haven't mentioned my 
questions for about a year.  
I sent him a Christmas card this year with a Spruce tree and a man with a 
staff.  I drew a little smiley face on the staff, and I put teeth in the 
trees.  Then I put  a PS that said I liked the card because of the spruce and 
the staff.  Then I asked in my PPS if the narrator traveled through the short 
sun so that blue could be Urth.  As far as I know, that's all Mr. Wolfe knows 
of my theories.  I don't bombard him like I do the list.  
His reply: "I like the spruce and the staff, TOO".  On the back of the card: 
"No, No, NO!  Green is Urth."

The question - does he remember my conjecture from, no joke, a year ago?  Why 
would he tease me about it?  Mostly we talk about books we've read in common 
and the daily grind of life - not his work, except for my copious praise of 
his genius (and therefore I vicariously praise my own appreciative genius for 
having the sublime intellect to savor his work).

Marc Aramini



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