John C. Wright's Journal

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 9.0 Beyond the Power of Designers, is now posted.

Noetic File 9.0: Beyond the Power of Designers

The narrator, in a digression, expresses the central conceit of the lore of our world communion, if not of all futurian or speculative writing.

Eschatologists, and other who study the final extinction of mankind in the face of the superior races we have created to replace ourselves, find this central passage of the work to be a stumblingblock to their fond theories. It is precisely for this reason the Amphitriciad did not find favor among the intellectual clade of previous generations.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 8.0 The Sign of the Flying Torch, is now posted.

Noetic File 8.0: The Sign of the Flying Torch

This file contains the oldest canonical description of the First Unearthly Tree, predating the brief passage in Aoetian’s Analects by a vigesimal period, and the dream-sonnet adumbration in the Enchiridion of Vertumnus by a quinquagenarian.

The theme of the earthmadness is subtly expanded upon when the Narrator consults an Archivist of the Order. The Archivist’s dialog here uses the figures of apophasis, proslepsis, and irony.

Those scholars who question the authenticity of the passage based on the delicacy of the figure engage in what is merely the snobbery of the current times, who underestimate their own ancestors. Rather, the irony may be deliberately heavy-handed, meant for comic effect, as when the Archivist denies knowing Amphitricia.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 7.0 The Fairness of Amphitricia, is now posted.

Noetic File 7.0: The Fairness of Amphitricia

The theme of the earthmadness is followed and amplified, and the true identity of the narrator is first called into question.

In the opening passage, the narrator indulges in an intimate physical description of Amphitricia.  Visualizations or eidetic representations hereof are forbidden.

Students are reminded that the manners and customs of those days are not as they are now. Poets of the classical period were influenced by many psychic vectors adverse to normal human consciousness, as, so, perhaps, are the men of all ages, including ours.

Nonetheless, the contrast with the more elegant and dignified image in file 7.7 is remarkable, and an example of classical periphrasis.

It is noteworthy that the Archival symbol mentioned in file 7.6 is unchanged from antiquity.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 6.0 The Pressworkers, is now posted.

Noetic File 6.0: The Pressworkers

The narrator is introduced to the media, and fails to deduce the obvious. The source of the madness of Earthmen is revealed, if only by allusion.

In file 6.2, we have some of the most disputed sections of the text, including archaic references and anachronisms.

Ironically, this includes the kind of trivial or quotidian chit-chat young lovers are wont to exchange, that the narrator in file 5.2 said he would not include. This is one of the reasons why that file is held to be a later interpolation.

File 6.3 contains a brief statement which seems to be introductory to the material in Noetic File 7.0. Nonetheless, the traditional divisions into file and subfile are here followed. Visualizations or eidetic representations of this subfile are forbidden, for obvious reasons.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 5.0 An Old-Fashioned Hospital, is now posted.

Noetic File 5.0: An Old-Fashioned Hospital

These small domestic scenes display both the medicinal protocols and police procedures of the milieu.

NOTE:

The traditional confessions of mutual love as the hero and heroine exchange romantic sonnets has been omitted from this publication, as the main body of scholarly opinion regards file 5.2 as a later interpolation.

Argentiferous Era commentators, including del Yame and del Sancta Timorous, discuss that the brief statement where the narrator refuses to recount any romantic dialogue. It is a figure of rhetoric known as an apophasis.

This must have appeared in the now lost ur-document oldest layer of mnemonic records, in order to explain the surviving Cupric Era commentary.

Del Arrant argues, we believe persuasively, that the lurid erotic sonnets appearing in the Phronetic Recordings are not in keeping with the delicacy of the narrator’s home epoch, which forms one of the emergent themes of the account.

We follow the version as recounted by the Auferic Era sources, especially del Vatic, updated for the modern audience.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 4.0 Coriolis Fall, is now posted.

Noetic File 4.0: Coriolis Fall

This is the famous scene, often depicted in romances, where the narrator rescues Amphitricia after a life-threatening Coriolis fall from an inner carousel.

Despite the common folk-belief, our tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold does not come from event, but has earlier roots, perhaps as far back as the abduction of the Sabine woman as depicted in Plutarch, in the unicameral consciousness days, precompanionship.

This file contains what antiquarians call an ‘infodump’ where the poet explains information to his audience presumably they already know, artfully enough not to imply dereliction of their education.

Much like the ritualized praise of their patrons, it is the type of nicety required by the stiff conventions and formality of the culture of ancient writers.

The file is an example of what is called “poetic paradox” as when he claims to be unaware of his surroundings, and yet describes them in detail, or he describes the actions of a fictional character, but clearly attributes those actions to himself.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 3.0 The Featherweight Dilapidator, is now posted.

Noetic File 3.0: The Featherweight Dilapidator

This file contains the first recording verbal image of Amphitricia del Cnossos.

Children, the recently-decanted, and other folk in positions of purity or sensitivity are encouraged to assume a proper emotional contour before perusing this file, as an uncomely brutal act is depicted.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 2.0 An Apparition of the Intellect, is now posted.

Noetic File 2.0: An Apparition of the Intellect

This file contains the famous theophany with the Great Captain’s apparition or eidolon. While it is said such appearances occurred with more frequency to our ancestors, the doubtful nature of such reports leads a growing element of modern scholarship to open the question of whether this passage is a literary invention or poetical device.

The only other option is to presume that our narrator spoke face to face with a nonphysical manifestation.  The normal respect and piety with which ancestral accounts are to be held would, of course, forbid any open doubt on this point.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen, Noetic File 01 We Have All Heard Poets Praise the Earth, is now posted.

All Men Dream of Earthwomen

Paleomnemonic archaeology has made great strides recently, revolutionizing modern scholarship. We take this opportunity to present a retelling of a crucial legend of the founding of Xi Sagittarii.

Noetic File 1.0: We Have All Heard Poets Praise the Earth

The opening sequence is not a later scribal addition or interpolation.  This has been established by the comparison of the linguistic patterns and thematic patterns with the main text.

Nor was it unheard-of, in the difficult days following the end of the Interventions, for poets to bear arms, or warriors to compose poetry.

Whether the narrator’s boast of being a poet is sound, of course, is left to the discretion of the taste and judgment of the reader, or his companion.