Seeing Things. Or Not.

[tamaranth]

Haven't read much for the last few years, and have forgotten how splendidly immersive it can be -- a salve for all sorts of mental and physical aches. Yes, am 2/3 of the way through Quicksilver. Flawed! Wonderful! Heavy! What am I doing here when I could be reading the rest? (And The Confusion, bought yesterday. Shall be Strong by the end of the not-a-trilogy).

But now I have a Conspiracy in my head.(Actually, I have a Theory, though it may be the modern-day equivalent of the contents of Jack Shaftoe's brain.)

Having a searchable text of Cryptonomicon, I was looking for something completely different and came across a passage that reminded me of something I had just read in a sample chapter of The Confusion.

On closer examination they are not that similar. But they are not that different either.

Do the supporting characters who appear in the background of the first few paragraphs of chapter 96 of Cryptonomicon*, remind anyone else of the characters introduced in the last few paragraphs of actual link added the first chapter of The Confusion?

For extra points (points of contention, that is) does anyone else find Arcane Significance in the email address root@pallas.eruditorum.org?

(Hmm, wonder where the spam'll go!)

*I don't approve of people ripping off copyright text and posting it online. But it's handy it being there. I think there may be a ref on the Baroque Cycle metaweb, but that lacks context ...

The other Conspiracy, of course, is clearly evidenced by the fact that the Arthur C Clarke Award 2003 went to a book which repeatedly uses 'off of'. Grrrrrr. But have forgiven that nice Mr Stephenson, not least because of Pirates and Astronomers and Actresses, oh my, and knowing what a jib-boom is for.

Comments

Cryptonomicon - Yay! Quicksilver - Grr

[ivory-goddess.livejournal.com]

I loved 'Cryptonomicon'. So much so that I bought 'Quicksilver' in hardback rather than borrowing it out of the library first. Oh, hang on, actually, it might have been a birthday/Xmas pressie, now I think of it. Oh well, that makes me feel better for quite strongly disliking it. I can't say I hated it, 'cos I didn't, but I got very annoyed with it at frequent intervals, really disliked the heroine, and frequently thought about ditching the whole thing as a bad idea & not finishing it. But I take pride in the fact that it's rare that I don't finish a book, and I kept thinking it'd get better. Well, 'better' inasmuchas I might start to like it more, as there isn't really a lot wrong with it per se. I just didn't like it very much. Certainly won't be reading the promised sequel.

Re: Cryptonomicon - Yay! Quicksilver - Grr

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Shame that you didn't like Quicksilver -- I can see what you mean about Eliza (though her dislikability makes her more realistic) but I found the whole 'war-ravaged Europe with Natural Philosophers' more than made up for it. And Stephenson's prose style makes up for a great deal, though not the frequent 'off of's. (Grrr).

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

That did occur to me as well, and some of the names od the two sets of conspirators are similar. Not sure what's happening with it.

But - if you're thinking along the same lines as I did - you're wrong about Mr Alchemist. That comes later. [g]

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Now, that all depends which sets of lines we're both thinking along (and whether or not they're parallel). Have not yet found anything to prove my theory wrong: but then again, may have missed a salient fact while being crushed under weight of book.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Well, you've finished it now, so:

I assumed that Enoch was one of the group introduced, along with Shaftoe, att he start. i was wrong, becuase he was actually a minor middle european noble.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

aha! No, we weren't thinking along the same lines .. but which one did you think he might be? (And are you sure he's not, given the Egon connection?)

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

iirc, it was van Hoek. But he can't *also* be Enoch, becuase he's in the action at the same time as Egon but in a different place...

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

van Hoek looks quite a lot like the Flying Dutchman, from some angles. Though not from others.

All depends on whether Enoch's condition is transmissable or not. And what he carries around in his ?cigar box.

I have a feeling I need to reread Cryptonomicon, but I don't know if my muscles are up to it!

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Flying Dutchman: indeed.... Hmm. I wonder if he is connected to one of the Crypto boat crew. I was certainly getting that impression. Something to do with them all having red hair, maybe?

It is a cigar box, and Rudy knew about it... But then, it may be a family secret type thing for them, presumably he is a descendant.

I re-read Crypto a few months ago (after Quicksilver, before Confusion). There's a brilliant line in Crypto - Enoch Root is explaining to (iirc) Bobby Shaftoe that he speaks some language (Italian, I suspect), but is a bit rusty and "would probably sound like a seventeenth century alchemist" to a local...