Comments on: Enigmas Abound http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/2009/09/20/enigmas-abound/ Just blowin' through naptime Fri, 28 May 2010 01:14:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Infinite Tasks http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/2009/09/20/enigmas-abound/#comment-6617 Infinite Tasks Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:18:14 +0000 http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/?p=82#comment-6617 Oops, the asterisk was just the qualification on "all" in the last short paragraph. Your comment about fanfic is interesting. I'd like to imagine there's a way to project the extra-textual connecting narrative without offering it 100% validation. Oops, the asterisk was just the qualification on “all” in the last short paragraph. Your comment about fanfic is interesting. I’d like to imagine there’s a way to project the extra-textual connecting narrative without offering it 100% validation.

]]> By: Jeff http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/2009/09/20/enigmas-abound/#comment-6616 Jeff Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:01:22 +0000 http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/?p=82#comment-6616 I certainly think the bridging events between the book's end and its beginning can be provisionally projected into the missing year (although most of what's in <a href="http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/ijend" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">that big write-up</a> that's been making the rounds this week strikes me as fanfic rather than justifiable extension of the book we have), but I don't know to what extent we can pin specific fact patterns down as more likely than not. But like I waved my hands at in the post, there's so much in this book that I find so valuable, so vital, that I'll still love it madly even if I finally decide that some of the essential plot elements are unknowable. And I'd love to know what your asterisk was intended to point to. :) I certainly think the bridging events between the book’s end and its beginning can be provisionally projected into the missing year (although most of what’s in that big write-up that’s been making the rounds this week strikes me as fanfic rather than justifiable extension of the book we have), but I don’t know to what extent we can pin specific fact patterns down as more likely than not.

But like I waved my hands at in the post, there’s so much in this book that I find so valuable, so vital, that I’ll still love it madly even if I finally decide that some of the essential plot elements are unknowable.

And I’d love to know what your asterisk was intended to point to. :)

]]> By: Infinite Tasks http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/2009/09/20/enigmas-abound/#comment-6612 Infinite Tasks Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:39:49 +0000 http://andersoncreativeonline.com/jmblog/?p=82#comment-6612 Great, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that Lyle is a wraith-like entity, and potentially responsible for all the funny objects around E.T.A. I really like your thinking on the possible uses of Stice in that regard, too. Why else would they have been messing with the match? I think I have a slightly different take on the "working out of the answers," though. I know that <i>I</i> haven't worked them out, but I think they can all* be projected into the space between the last page and the year that intervenes before the opening scene. Of course, some bits and pieces may be on the editing room floor (I want the DFW Master copy). I had a few words on this in my last post ("JOI Part III"), and expect to continue it in a series called "Endings." Oh, and even if the answers aren't really all worked out, I would be OK with that, too. That is, the significance of the book doesn't hang, for me, on the workable-outness of the crazy plot. But it sure adds to it! Great, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that Lyle is a wraith-like entity, and potentially responsible for all the funny objects around E.T.A. I really like your thinking on the possible uses of Stice in that regard, too. Why else would they have been messing with the match?

I think I have a slightly different take on the “working out of the answers,” though. I know that I haven’t worked them out, but I think they can all* be projected into the space between the last page and the year that intervenes before the opening scene. Of course, some bits and pieces may be on the editing room floor (I want the DFW Master copy). I had a few words on this in my last post (“JOI Part III”), and expect to continue it in a series called “Endings.”

Oh, and even if the answers aren’t really all worked out, I would be OK with that, too. That is, the significance of the book doesn’t hang, for me, on the workable-outness of the crazy plot. But it sure adds to it!

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