The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

I liked this one too . . . I've always been a fan of mythology, and this author has a real handle on it. The prose has that authentic sort of poetical voice about it Very nicely done. To me, though, it felt tragic, as opposed to being fun, as Michele said. All the old greatness is lost, and look what we've got left . . .
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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

bottomdweller wrote:
All the old greatness is lost, and look what we've got left . . .
Lester Curtis

Sounds like my life - but I'd rather have someone looking at the Judeo-Christian Creation Myths square in the face and expounding on them as myths, than have some Evangelical,Two-faced, Republican shaking a finger in my daughter's face telling her that she should be ashamed of herself for wanting contraceptives. Don't get me started!
Like I said . . . look what we've got left . . . (I don't want to look at what we've got on the right!)
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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

Jamie, I don't think historical accuracy was the point of this story. Did Methuselah actually live to be 969 years old? Who cares? These are all myths, and could belong to any people at any time. The motive power of the story comes from its invocation of primal archetypes, and all of these belong to all of us, in every era. So the author shuffled the deck with respect to dates and places; it's still an enjoyable piece of work.

I do agree with you on the parts that were missing; I felt that lack myself. Why would God neglect so much of the world when he was passing out archangels? But, name a deity who hasn't behaved in an outright foolish manner at some point. That's another point of this story: that the beings we worship are reflections of ourselves, warts and all.
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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

I apologize if I seemed insensitive, Jamie, and I hope I didn't offend you.

Ordinarily I'm another stickler for researching my material, to give it the necessary authenticity. For example, an early passage in my novel describes a childbirth, and after reading it to one of my writers' groups, a couple of the women commented on the realism of it and asked if I'd witnessed one, or how many kids I had. I told them I had no children, and got all the background from researching birth and child development on the 'net. It worked.

Now, we won't know until or unless Mr. Niculae weighs in on it, but perhaps he was deliberate in his disregard of the historical order of events. Your commentary makes it clear that the story would have been a whole lot different if he had kept everything in proper chronological order. I would be interested in his response.

By the way, your first post in this thread was an impressive display of scholarship. You actually know this stuff; I just grab as much as I need to to fool the readers, and move on to the next thing.
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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

Jaimie wrote:
Lester Curtis wrote:By the way, your first post in this thread was an impressive display of scholarship. You actually know this stuff; I just grab as much as I need to to fool the readers, and move on to the next thing.
Well, I had to look most of it up for the details. There was a lot of research in this critique. :lol:
Oh, you got me! Good job, all the same!
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Lester Curtis
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Re: The Story No One Knows by Alex Niculae

Post by Lester Curtis »

vates wrote:
Lester Curtis wrote: Now, we won't know until or unless Mr. Niculae weighs in on it, but perhaps he was deliberate in his disregard of the historical order of events.
Maybe we don't actually need the author but can go by the story, as the third-to-last paragraph (the one starting with "Time did its dirty deed") tells us that the author was quite aware at the time of writing that the history presented in the story differs from the history the readers may know.
Well, there we have it (emphasis mine):
Time did its dirty deed of mystifying all evidence, playing as it always has with the malleable mortal mind -- it changed dates, places and people, it had rocks lie when asked their age and it moved the remains around so much that the puzzle is impossible to resolve. And because they base their beliefs on the morsels left behind, no one will now trust that the world of Then might have had an entirely different chronicle.
Good catch, Vates.
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