Is the Toronto Review a Secret Message?

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Arquimedes de Sobreiro, Doug Dorst, Eric Husch, Filomela Caldeira, FXC, Jen Heyward, Jennifer Heyward, JJ Abrams, Ship of Theseus, Sola, The Archer's Tales, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, VMS

Longtime “S” fan Adam Laceky has pointed out the following intriguing theory that the Toronto Review article on The Burning Word is actually a secret message from FXC to VMS.

This insert originally appears between pp 20-21 in Ship of Theseus. Jennifer Heyward provides the insert for Eric Husch to convince him that The Archer’s Tales is a real book (see marginalia on p21).

Note the publication’s title at the bottom of the page: Toronto Review for History and the Humanities, Vol. 1:1 1954. This is the first volume and first issue. Possibly the only issue. And it is published in Toronto.

If you note the title page in Ship of Theseus, FXC notes that Winged Shoes Press has two locations – one in New York City and the other in Toronto, Canada. In 1954, FXC would have been five years into her promise to VMS that she would wait ten years for him before she returned “home” to Maraú, Brazil (see symbols and marginalia on p184). Her only means of communicating with him, if he were indeed still alive, would be in the hidden messages of Ship of Theseus published five years earlier and in other public messages that would capture his attention. An article published in a previously nonexistent publication on The Archer’s Tales from a location where FXC is known to have an office would do just that.

To lend further credence that the author of the Toronto Review article is FXC, Adam points out that the footnote is in the same style as FXC’s work in Ship of Theseus.

So what is the hidden message?

FXC (assuming this is her) mentions a variety of dates and locations. Her dates are interesting. The 1759 fire that destroyed San Tadeo, according to the review, could be an allusion to the fire in Stockholm, Sweden, that occurred on July 19, 1759, that injured 19 people and destroyed the spire of the Maria Magdalene Church there.

Stockholm also had another major fire in 1625 – on September 1 (9/1). This date is 9/1/1625. In Europe, it might be annotated as 1/9/1625. Now where have we seen that date before?

In Ship of Theseus, when S goes missing in the Winter City, Sola comes looking for him. She finally finds him because it was the only place left (p391). On p387, just before S finds Sola on the ninth floor of the building in front of which he now stands, he discovers a plaque buried in ice on the sidewalk.

January 9, 1625, is 1/9/1625. But in Europe, as Adam points out, this could represent September 1, 1625. Since the marginalia gives no indication that this plaque was not represented in the original manuscript written by VMS, we can conclude that VMS is the one who created this.

This could mean that VMS was trying to tell FXC that, should he ever be missing, that he would reconnect with her in Stockholm, Sweden – mostly likely on September 1 – the anniversary of the 1625 fire.

But if she is to meet him in Stockholm on 9/1 of any given year, where is she to meet him.

In the 1759 fire, the spire of the Maria Magdalene Church was destroyed. In the Bible, Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus alive – even though she thought he was dead. Perhaps then FXC is to be the first to recognize that VMS is alive when he is otherwise thought to be dead – at this sacred place.

Perhaps FXC wrote the Toronto review to say that she recognized VMS’s call for a reunion in Stockholm – and that she would be there in 1954.

And what final clue do we have that FXC may have known about the Stockholm connection all along?In the Chapter 10 cipher, all of the locations that FXC left us work out perfectly in the EOTVOS wheel to reveal her message – except one.

The letters from the missing column correlate to the sixth footnote (Calais, France) and give us the letters XBTUP. But those letters do not work in the cipher. Only the letters LONOE, which lead us to Maraú, Brazil – FXC’s final destination. But surely XBTUP still means something? Not only does it point to Calais (it all goes back to Calais), but the same letters arise when we punch in the GPS coordinates to Stockholm, Sweden, on the EOTVOS wheel.

Was FXC trying to communicate that she understood the Stockholm message from VMS in Chapter 9 (Bird of Negative Space) and the plaque in the Winter City? And, more importantly, is it possible that FXC reconnected with VMS in Stockholm sometime between 1949 and 1959 and the two were able to reunite?

Adam Laceky did a fantastic job uncovering these possibilities. And they are definitely worth considering.

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Is Sola Deliberately Hiding Her Identity?

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Doug Dorst, Filomela, FXC, JJ Abrams, Samar, Sola, Szalome, Vevoda, VMS

Sola appears to be cloaking her identity (intentionally?) throughout Ship of Theseus. This presents an interesting counterpoint to S’s situation: S is searching for his lost identity, while Sola appears to be concealing her known identity.

Here are clues that seem to indicate this. Please discuss your own observations in the comments…

• She goes by different names (Sola, Szalome, Samar)
• She costumes herself as a man in El H__
• She changes roles repeatedly
  • Wealthy traveler on the liner Imperia, appearing as a casual reader in the tavern
  • Factory worker in B__
  • Part of the resistance in El H__
  • Companion to The Lady on Obsidian Island
  • Traveler on a ship like S’s
  • She is the girl in the century-old picture in El H__. And Khatef Zelh, when describing Samar, describes at least six separate roles she was known to have possibly played. Is it because she played all of them and different people are describing the Samar that they knew at the time?
• She somehow seems to keep up with S’s valise in an undercover manner.
  • Someone seems to have obtained Stenfalk’s valise between B__ and G__. S left it at the base of the limestone wall but notices that the agents don’t have it when they arrest and murder Stenfalk. Sola was last seen in B__. Did she follow the group and recover the valise?
  • After S receives what appears to be the same valise in El H__, he is stripped of it briefly by a would-be assassin. Sola returns it to him, costumed as a man.
  • Sola recovers the valise that S left in The Territory after his encounter with the Governor and returns it to him in The Winter City.
  • Sola ensures that all of S’s supplies in the valise are in order before he takes it to Vevoda’s chateau.
• She somehow seems to be aware of and secretly spying on and/or working against Vevoda before S even knows who Vevoda is.
  • She is in the tavern in the Old Quarter, appearing to casually read a book but probably watching one of Vevoda’s agents/detectives who is there taking notes. (16)
  • She secures a job in Vevoda’s factory under the name Szalome, doing some sort of book work that Pfeifer didn’t think needed done before. (116)
  • She leads S to the two detectives next to the Central Power plant so that he can witness the bomb exchange. (100)
  • She (probably?) is the one who rescues Stenfalk’s valise from the posse of detectives. (172)
  • She obtains the map to Vevoda’s chateau, along with the intelligence about the gala nine months away and find’s S in the Winter City in order to help him confront Vevoda and write the ending. (401-402)
• She and S both conceal their identities together while on Vevoda’s estate as they prepare to confront him and his guests.

Is Sola concealing her identity? If so, why? And why conceal it from even S, as in El H__ when she is costumed as a man when returning the valise? What are your thoughts?

There Is Only One Footnote in Chapter 9: Birds of Negative Space

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Archimedes de Sobreiro, birds of negative space, defenestration, Doug Dorst, Filomela Caldeira, FXC, JJ Abrams, Sola, VM Straka

There is only one window in S’s apartment
(The opening line of Chapter 9 on p375)

There is only one footnote in Chapter 9. There is only one window in S’s apartment. And there is only one window in another aparment where our one footnote is born. S hears the voices of two people – one of them most likely the infamous Archimedes de Sorbreiro – just prior to Sobreiro falling nine stories from that window to his death.

Is this a clue to our missing Chapter 9 cipher – one window, one footnote? The footnote refers to Straka’s struggle with two lines in the book and which voice, male or female, should utter which line. The first sentence of Filomela’s footnote implies that both lines in the original manuscript contain numerous strikethroughs and handwritten corrections, and yet her second sentence says that she reproduced the line (singular) as it was originally typed. There is only one line reproduced. Is this an intentional mistake, as FXC so often includes, to lead us to a cipher?

Another thought. On pp386-387, S stands beneath the ninth story apartment window, looking up at it from the sidewalk. As he does, he kicks one foot against the ground, trying to chase away the numbing cold. As he does, he breaks through a layer of ice and discovers the corner of a brass plaque set into the sidewalk. He kicks more until the entire plaque is revealed.

Given the manner in which S discovered the plaque, is this a foot note? And what significance might we find in the use of five perfect squares represented?

• 1 (January)
• 2 (4 S symbols)
• 3 (9)
• 4 (16 in 1625)
• 5 (25 in 1625)

Let the Speculation Begin About the Number 7

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Doug Dorst, Floris of Bruges, FXC, Grand Duchess Tatiana, JJ Abrams, Juan Blas Covarrubias, Mary Queen of Scots, Mrs. Bouchard, VM Straka, VMS, Zelda Fitzgerald

In the seventh footnote of the seventh chapter of “S”, FXC mentions seven candidates that Straka may have used to create his description of the pouting sailor. The footnote has 56 words (7×8). It’s on page 266 (7x19x2). FXC says “Allow me to prime the pump” – seven is a prime number.

The seventh word of the Fn is Straka.

This page also gives us the seventh appearance of the monkey. Here are those appearances in order…

1. The monkey spots S as he walks by the organ grinder and tone-deaf immigrant (8-9)
2. S spots the monkey as he is about to pass out after being drugged and says Run, monkey. Run. (24-25)
3. The monkey is rescued from the ghost ship and come’s aboard the xebec (54-56).
4. The monkey flees the approaching waterspouts and goes down the hatch (62).
5. S spots the monkey on the resurrected xebec after his leap from the cave (200-201).
6. S hears the monkey laugh after Maelstrom explains to S that he will willingly return from El H__ after he disembarks (219-220).
7. The monkey runs circles around the female sailor (266-267).

What do all these sevens mean? Surely it points to another code or message? What do you think?

In Search of the Cipher in the Foreword

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cipher, Doug Dorst, Ernest Hemingway, Foreword, FXC, JJ Abrams, Kurt Vonnegut, Le Monde, The World, Translator's Note, VMS

Typically, when FXC embeds a cipher in a chapter of Ship of Theseus, she includes a deliberately incorrect fact in a footnote that indicates where to find the enciphered message and what type of cipher it might be. And the chapter title typically is some sort of keyword to help break the cipher.

For example, in Fn1 on p70, FXC says that something happened in five days in Straka’s The Square when in reality it was ten days, as Eric Husch points out in the marginalia. Jennifer Heyward correctly deduces that the error “five” points to the fifth footnote. And FXC uses the word spotted on p70 to indicate that the “spots” in the fifth footnote highlight the message to be deciphered. The chapter title, The Emersion of “S”, indicates that the letter S-es that have spots should emerge and we are to take the two letters on either side of it to produce the message ARP IS BOUCHARD IS HW (see p80).

If we are to trust that FXC is consistent with this pattern, then there are still ciphers to be discovered in the Foreword, the Interlude, and Chapter 9: Birds of Negative Space. It could also be that there are additional ciphers (see Fn6, p84 – where FXC uses an incorrect name).

This blog is meant to stimulate conversation that might lead to the discovery of a cipher in the Translator’s Note and Foreword.

Consider Fn2 on p vi…

The newspaper Le Monde did not exist until December 19, 1944 – well after the so-called interview with Ernest Hemingway appeared in print. Beyond that error, Eric points out that there is no evidence to support anything FXC claims about Hemingway’s admiration, request for a personal audience, or later criticism.

What might we deduce about a possible cipher, its location, or the key to its solution? A few thoughts to get the conversation started…

• December 19, 1944 – the date Le Monde actually did begin its life in print is the same date that author Kurt Vonnegut was captured and became a POW. His experiences would ultimately lead to his masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five. And Vonnegut was influenced heavily by Hemingway. But this may just be an Easter Egg from Doug Dorst since at the time Ship of Theseus was published, Vonnegut was still an unknown literary figure.
• FXC uses the phrase Hemingway’s about-face. Is this a play on the word Foreword? Go forward and then do an about-face somehow?
• Since 1935 is an impossible year for anything to be printed in Le Monde, perhaps 1935 refers to FNs 1, 9, 3, and 5 in the Foreword. Perhaps just 3 and 5. Perhaps 3-5. Or something else?
• Since part of the title of this chapter is Translator’s Note, are we to translate Le Monde (“The World”) and with that phrase make discoveries? For example, in Fn11 on p xiii, FXC twice uses the phrase “mundanely literal.” The word  mundane comes from the same root as Monde and means “world.” And this: the second sentence of the Foreword – the one that starts to answer the question in the first – begins with the two words The world. And this: on p x (X marks the spot?), FXC says “I saw the world through the eyes of his characters; I heard his voice in his letters and in our discussions in the margins of his typescripts.” Eric underlines the entire sentence and points to it as proof that FXC was “a hack.” Does this sentence explain how we are to see “The world?” And this: the first underlined sentence in the Foreword (and thus the entire book) is the world never knew Straka’s face (pp v-vi). The associated marginalia is from Jen, who asks “So why’d. You have to leave the library in such a hurry the other night?” Contrast this with Doug Dorst’s tweet that “the answers you seek may be found in the library” – implying that to see Straka’s face we must be in the library. And this: Straka’s work often contains shadow-world occurrences (vi). And this: Hemingway had room 511 all to himself at the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Havana, Cuba between 1932 and 1939 – including 1935, though he was not there much. Ambos Mundos means both worlds, celebratin Cuba as a bridge between the Old World and the New World. And this: our friend Archimedes has the famous quote…

Give me a place to stand and I shall move the world.

An Interactive Map of the Locations in “S”

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Doug Dorst, FXC, J.J. Abrams, Ship of Theseus, VM Straka, VMS

This incredible map was created by Ben Hill, Sarah Howard, Lexie Lessing, Maya Reich, and Erich Wu.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine?

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Doug Dorst, FXC, JJ Abrams, Samar, Sobreiro, Sola, Szalome, valise, VM Straka, VMS

In the ninth chapter of Ship of Theseus, S is summoned to a ninth-story apartment building. At the base of the building he sees that Arquimedes de Sobreiro died here on January 9th, 1625. S climbs nine flights of stairs and, for the first time in his life, connects with Sola face-to-face. They touch. S gets his valise back. S learns that Sobreiro actually lived – and died – in/from this apartment. S appears to actually hear the voices of Sobreiro and a woman, followed by a fading scream that might be someone plummeting nine stories to his death (p388). Sola tells S she has found Vevoda’s chateau, and that they can face him nine months from now in land time (p391).

It is also apparent that S spends the entire nine full months writing the ending of the story while in the orlop – all but the direct confrontation with Vevoda in the wine cellars (p412).

So many nines encircling the culmination of connections between Sola, S, Sobreiro, and the valise.

Other occurrences of the number nine…

• S hears “nine sharp reports” as three boys throw rocks at the streetlights in the Old Quarter (p11).
• Nine of the Agents S appears to be assigned with assassinating are women.
• The sum of the numbers of the Agents (4, 34, 26, 47, 8, 9, 41) that we see S killing is 171, or 9 * 19.
• FXC spent the better part of a year trying to translate the first nine chapters of Ship of Theseus. She went to Havana, Cuba for the 10th.
• The symbol for #9 on the cave wall looks like the symbol S (p184)

Do you see other appearances of Nine in “S”?

Do you think Nine is some sort of clue? If so, what?

The Answers You Seek May Be Found at the Library (Part 2)

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Doug Dorst, FXC, JJ Abrams, Library, S, Sola, VM Straka, VMS

"The answers you seek may be found at the library." pic.twitter.com/BSaSOtmzhu

— Cincinnati Library (@cincylibrary) December 30, 2013

Doug Dorst once retweeted this picture (tweeted originally by the Cincinnati Public Library). Perhaps it is simply a reminder that “S” points to many other works. Or, perhaps it is a deeper clue. What if we are to find answers to the mysteries of “S” within the library itself?

• This is where our story begins – the library at Pollard State University. It is where Eric studies and leaves his copy of Ship of Theseus – the one that Jen finds and where their relationship in the margins begins.
• Jen works there.
• Eric’s copy of Ship of Theseus was stolen from his high school library.
• There is a mockingbird outside the PSU library that sings all night and has been there every Spring that Eric has been at PSU.  (p44)
• The library has quick access to the steam tunnels (“The way out was down. Is down.” P197)
• The Straka Archives at PSU are in the library.
• When S first meets Sola in the tavern, he notices that she is reading a book in such peaceful solace – as if this chaotic, drunken hovel were a library (p16).
• There is a library on Obsidian Island, where S meets The Lady and has a significant opportunity to view The Book of S (p290).
• The word library comes from the Latin liber – meaning “the inner bark of trees” – also related to the word cork. Books were once written on the inner bark of trees and the word expanded to mean book. Liber is the inner bark. Suber (as in quercus suber – the cork tree – otherwise known as Sobreiro) is the outer bark. Metaphorically speaking, this could symbolize that the library is the inner bark of the tree and the cork, the outer bark which is harvested and remains separate from the liber, is the marginalia. The cork represents the harvest of reader response, discussion, interest, etc., that is dispersed and transformed and distributed. Something to ponder.

Is this the Location of Vevoda’s Chateau?

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Doug Dorst, Filomela Caldeira, foothills, FXC, grotto, Hermes Bouchard, JJ Abrams, Juan Blas Covarrubias, pyrenees, VM Straka, VMS

We know that Vevoda’s chateau was in France in the foothills of the Pyrenees (p402).

The foothills of Pyrenees, the Monts Albères, run into the Mediterranean Sea in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France, creating a steep cliff line.

Compare FXC’s map in Ship of Theseus to Vevoda’s chateau and, simultaneously, a real-world map to the chateau/estate of Hermes Bouchard to that of Banyuls Sur-mer and the surrounding territory. The coastline of FXC’s map from memory and a real-world map are very similar.

Updated Post

The map-matching below is from @SimpinaLindale, who saw my original post (further below) and suggested a better match than mine – which I admitted had a few problems – by going just a tad North. It looks like a perfect match. 

 
Original Post 

Though the coastline is roughly identical, there are two problems.

1. The deep inset that marks the grotto used by Juan Blas Covarrubias does not seem to be present on the real-world map. This could simply be because the grotto is underground from above, but FXC “tore the roof off” to indicate where it was.
2. The two islands or offshore rocks on the map are not present at all in the real-world map. If you use Google Earth and zoom in and around this area, there are a few rocks jutting out of the water very close to the coastline. But they don’t seem to resemble FXC’s drawing.

What Begins at the Water

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F.X. Caldeira, Follow the Monkey, FXC, sound wave, VM Straka, VMS, wave, wave theory

P26. When S first realizes he has been “stolen from land and deposited on water”, we read his perceptions of “fluid transverse and longitudinal sways”. Transverse and longitudinal are the two ways that waves travel. Sound waves can travel as either. This is literally the physics of sound. In the alternate ending to Chapter 10, S thinks the physics of sound finally cooperates.

P352. As Anca writes follow the monkey, Jen’s corresponding note is sound advice.

P194. As S and Corbeau navigate the S-curve in the caves of the K–, they can hear the rumble of ocean waves growing louder.

Robert Hooke, who has come up in S-research before, was the first to propose that light existed as a wave.  He was also the first to look at cork (sobreiro) under a microscope and discover biological cells.

The Coriolis Effect produces waves in the ocean.

On p221, as S rides a rowboat to El H–, the boat catches a modest wave and S finds himself feeling glorious, even telling the rower I enjoyed that.

P225 mentions that the “time travel” is occurring is as if S accelerated through it, as if carried along on the crest of a wave.

P84. Wave comes from the same root word as weave. Compare to FXC’s choice of Serge as the made-up name choice in the footnote. Serge is a specific weave. On p18: wend is also a form of wave/weave. When S is in the tavern stealing glances at Sola, “he watches as the drops of water fall from him onto the uneven floor and wend along it in a rivulet, snaking over and around and between the warped boards.”  This is also the same page where the drunken sailor says ’S the truth.

p408. Here we see sound waves weaving together: “But then— and he feels the change—it is as if a piano chord, struck in a vast concert hall, has been allowed to ring and decay, and even as the chord itself fades, some of its overtones continue to hum with life in all that space, and those tones are joined by notes from bowed strings that rise, coalesce, weave together in unexpected harmonies, carry the piece along with them in new directions, and when he follows them, he can see the Château and its grounds resolve in his mind.”

The stitches in the sailors mouths are a wave/weave.

Maelstrom’s beard is full and wavy as the hairs swirl together and random weaves.

Tufting is an ancient weaving technique. Our capuchin monkey friend is tufted.

A wave in the water begins there and ends there. It does not travel outside of the water. What begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin.  

Waves in the water formed by something dropped in the center produce ripples, which look much like the cover of our favorite book Ship of Theseus. (Thanks, @abramsfan)

If all this is not enough, the letter S is itself in the shape of a wave.

So what does all this mean?

A wave literally is a Ship of Theseus – the wave is still the wave even when it travels through a medium and is formed by completely different particles.

The wave metaphor falls in line with The Tradition. “Different story. Same tradition.” (p404) The tradition is a wave that travels through each generation, carrying with it the essence of a common meaning in the same way, but in different manifestations. Is it the same story? Think monomyth where all stories have the same basic truths communicated through the oral and then written word. Each story, though completely “different”, is a manifestation of the same wave used in a previous story.

They are all simply playing their roles in humankind’s oldest, simplest, truest story. (p173)

For example, when S sees the S symbol on a building named CENTRAL POWER in the middle of B– (p100), he witnesses a man taking possession of a bomb that will forever change S’s life. In “real life”, you and I are witnesses to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (a member of the CENTRAL POWERS) and the beginning of World War 1.

It’s the same basic story, but with a different setting, different characters/plot/etc.

J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst have said that “‘S’ is a love letter to the written word.” It appears to be a story that retells all other stories – a story of good versus evil, and the men and women who fight to overcome it and find love in the process.  V.M. Straka and F.X. Caldera fighting Bouchard. Eric and Jen fighting Moody. S and Sola fighting Vevoda.

There is more to the wave theory here, to be sure. This is just what begins at the water…

What do you think?

The EOTVOS Wheel and the Chapter 10 Cipher

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Coriolis, Doug Dorst, EOTVOS scheibe, eotvos wheel, Filomela Caldeira, Filomela Xabregas Caldeira, FXC, JJ Abrams, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, VMS

If the EOTVOS Wheel is the key to decoding the puzzles in Coriolis, then there are some conclusions we can draw…

1. There are still at least two unknown encoded messages in the wheel (it is the key to decoding the puzzles in Coriolis)
2. Since the Chapter 10 Cipher was solved using the EOTVOS Wheel, then this means that the original message was encoded into the wheel prior to the writing and release of Ship of Theseus. The solution to the Chapter 10 cipher is I HAVE LOVED YOU FROM THE BEGINNING. I WILL LOVE YOU TO THE END. The implication until now has been that FXC enciphered this message to VMS in the Chapter 10 footnotes of Ship of Theseus. However, if this message was already encoded into the wheel when Coriolis was written, and it was the key to solving ciphers in that text, then it seems that the message was actually encoded by VMS and not by FXC. Perhaps FXC’s Chapter 10 footnotes are not encoding her message to him, but decoding his message to her and she is revealing to him that she discovered it. The marginalia on p433 supports this, indicating that, finally, in the Chapter 10 footnotes FXC is disciplined and truthful in her statements and that the reason for this deviation from her previous methods was “her secret” or maybe even “our secret.”

Did V. M. Straka tell Filomela Caldeira that he loved her, and then reveal that message to her in some way that she discovered?

HELLO RAIN. I SEE YOU’VE MET MY PARADE.

Tags

Doug Dorst, Eric Husch, Ermelinda Pega, falling, Filomela Caldeira, FXC, Jen Heyward, Jennifer Heyward, JJ Abrams, rain, VM Straka, VMS, William Carlos Williams

On pp85-86, we find Desjardins’ cryptic letter to Eric that came In a package that also included documents (none of which we have access to) and an obsidian piece. Eric is excited about the obsidian piece, but Jen cautions him that it probably should be in one of the Straka Archives around he world – most likely Paris. Eric responds…

HELLO RAIN.  I SEE YOU’VE MET MY PARADE.

I’m On p86, Eric and Jen shift the conversation…

I could put one dot on any page of this book and you’d notice it. 

LIKE ON P. 319

Indeed there is a red dot on p319. To the left and below that dot, on p318, we see that Jen mentions she has to write a worthless paper on “Rain” – the poem by William Carlos Williams (see p232 marginalia for confirmation of WCW’s version of “Rain.”)

Rain is mentioned in both locations. Perhaps it is simply atmospheric. Perhaps there is a different reason Jen placed the red dot on p319 and mentioned it on p86 to see if Eric could find it. Or perhaps we are being subtly drawn to the idea of water falling.

WCW’s Rain focuses on water falling and compares it to falling in love. Compare this to the final known written words of Filomela Caldeira in her note to Eric and Jen (see the insert between pp416-417).

It is my fondest
wish that this note finds you both
happy, healthy, and falling.

With that in mind, remember S’s leap from the cave with Corbeau on pp197-198…

They are falling, they are falling, they are falling….

The way out was down.  Is down.

We are being led on a journey that begins at the water and proceeds…down, apparently.  Into the Maelstrom…

The Sign of the Raven

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Corbeau, cormorant, Doug Dorst, FXC, JJ Abrams, raven, Samar, Signe Rabe, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, VMS

One of the pivotal questions we are faced with in “S” is WHO IS SIGNE RABE (p361)? Signe Rabe translates to sign of the raven. Does this indicate that we are to pay special attention to any appearance of a raven?

Below is a walkthrough of interesting appearances of the word raven or one of its etymological cousins.

• In Norse mythology, the god Odin had a pair of ravens, Hugin (mind) and Munin (memory). Mind and memory are key themes in “S”
• On p5, we see the first human being that S remembers coming into contact with. She has three ravenous sons.
• The Old English word hremm was used to indicate a raven – the sound made in the throat that mimicks the bird’s guttural tones. Compare this to p302-303, where Agent #4 is beginning to feel the effects of poison. He coughs again, tries to grind his throat clear with a series of increasingly vigorous hrrrremms.
• Ravens and wolves have a symbiotic relationship in obtaining food. Compare this to the creation myth illustrated in the cave paintings (p177-179) where bird figures of the sky and wolf figures of the earth become one.
• The word cornice derives itself from the Latin cornix – a place for a bird to perch. Compare this the word cornice on p98 and the margin drawing of a bird.
• Rove is connected with raven and means to wander, its earliest meaning was related to archery – to shoot arrows randomly at a target for pleasure. Compare this concept to our famous mystery book The Archer’s Tales.
• Cormorant means “Sea Raven.” Compare this to the Lake Cormorant boat house featured in The Daily Pronghorn, inserted into “S” between pages 32-33.
• The bird of negative space on p382 is a raven.
• The painting of Sola, or Samar, on p242 describes her as a raven-haired girl.
• Corbeau – one of the main characters – her name is french for raven.

If you see any additional references to the raven in “S” – please mention them in the comments section.

An Intermediate Guide to Reading “S” – by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst

Tags

Clues, Doug Dorst, EOTVOS, Eric Husch, F.X. Caldeira, Filomela Xabregas Caldeira, FXC, How to read, Jen Heyward, JJ Abrams, Reader's Guide, understanding, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, VMS

So you’ve finished reading “S.” (If you haven’t, try the Beginner’s Guide to Reading “S” first).

Ye’ve got questions. ‘m I right?

Why Was the Ending so… Anticlimactic?
If you view a single pass of reading through “S” as finishing the book, you might think the “ending” is not all that great. But if you view “S” as something other than a chronologically organized, linear book – one that requires further investigation – rewards await. For example, remember that in the foreword of the book, F. X. Caldeira claims that she was not able to recover all of the pages of Chapter 10 of Ship of Theseus before V. M. Straka either died from a fall through the hotel window or vanished in some sort of staged death. She admits to finishing Chapter 10 the way she thought VMS would have – to the best of her abilities. Did you know that the real ending – the one that VMS wrote himself – has turned up? In July of 2014, author Doug Dorst tweeted that the original ending may have been found. Here is that original ending. It stands up well to comments in the marginalia about the real ending that Eric received from FXC in the mail from Arturo (p421-422,430,452). It also seems the most plausible of the other alternative endings. And even when you read both endings, you get the sense that there is much, much more to the story that requires going deeper to uncover it.

How Do I Tell What Order Jen & Eric Wrote in the Margins?

1. Pencil. Eric wrote in pencil while taking notes during his early reading(s) of Ship of Theseus before he met Jen.
2. Blue (Jen) and black (Eric). This is the first pass of notes between Eric and Jen after they “meet” in the margins.
3. Green (Eric) and orange (Jen). This is the second pass of comments between Eric and Jen after their relationship has deepened.
4. Purple (Jen) and red (Eric). This is the third set of comments between the two, after they have met in person.
5. Black (both Jen and Eric). These are the final set of notes and include their comments after they move to Prague.

Knowing the colors will help you see not only how Eric and Jen’s understanding of Ship of Theseus changes over time, but how their character arcs evolve.

Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Understand What’s Going On?
No. You’re not alone at all. A first pass of reading “S” leaves many unanswered questions. And those questions often seem deliberately left unanswered – at least at face value. But “S” seems to be a deliberate tease – a logic puzzle, if you will – with some information provided but some not, leaving it up to we readers to put the puzzle pieces together –  to make associative connections that reassemble what really happened. For example, on p453 we have this discussion between Jen and Eric…

He really was there, right? When the projector went out?
I SWEAR I HIT HIM. SIX OR SEVEN TIMES AT LEAST. YOU HEARD ME HIT HIM.
So where did he go?
STEAM TUNNELS?
MAYBE SERIN HAD PEOPLE THERE, TOO.
Wish they’d told us. Also wish we could’ve stayed and watched the stars some more.
IT WAS YOUR IDEA TO LEAVE EVERYTHING AND GO.
How many parking tickets do you think my car has by now?

This fragmented, cryptic conversation makes sense to the two people who were actually there, but to us, we have to reconstruct what they are discussing from not only this conversation – but all of the other things we have learned in “S.”

What can we conclude – given that this incident is never discussed directly before or after this one exchange? A few things…

• Both Eric and Jen are there (Jen could hear Eric hitting someone).
• It took place on the campus of Pollard State University (the victim likely fled in the steam tunnels).
• It was very likely centered around Straka (why else would SERIN have people present?)
• There was a projector involved, and when the projector went out, no one could see (Jen could only hear Eric hitting someone).
• There were stars (Jen wanted to stay and watch them).
• Eric and Jen left for Prague shortly afterward (Jen wanted to leave everything and her car probably has parking tickets)
• Eric used to work at PSU’s planetarium, and learned how to use the equipment – which likely includes the projector (p209).
• The projector went out unexpectedly, and then someone showed up and did something in the dark that caused Eric to hit him. It is likely that this person deliberately turned off the projector and charged Eric in the dark, hoping for a surprise attack.
• The assailant might have fled using the steam tunnels, which had an access point just outside the west side of the planetarium (see p410 and the napkin map of the steam tunnels, originally included between pages 306-307).

The final conclusion from these pieces? Eric was making some sort of public presentation in the planetarium that related to his theory about the mystery of “Ship of Theseus.” Jen was present, as were others, some of whom may have been with SERIN. In the middle of the presentation, someone cut the power to the projector and charged Eric. Eric fought back, striking his assailant six or seven times. The mystery man (“him”) fled, perhaps into the steam tunnels, which had an access point outside the planetarium. This man was, in all likelihood, Moody. And he was probably upset over whatever Eric was presenting in the planetarium, because it discredited his own theories and ruined his chances of getting his book published. This example is just one of literally hundreds of places where we, the readers, must make deductions about the larger story using only the morsels we have been given. Here are a few more to get you pondering…

• On p328, FXC inserts a question not contained in the original manuscript of Ship of Theseus – “WHO IS SIGNE RABE?” On p361, we discover that Signe Rabe was a real person, born 11/4/1930 and later married to Jean Bernard Desjardins on 12/1/1952. The publication date of Ship of Theseus is October, 1949 (title page), and FXC’s foreword was not written until Sunday, October 30, 1949. This means the book must have published on October 31, 1949. The date of FXC’s foreword is significant – it is an anniversary. Can you tell what it is? And just four days after the book was published, something significant happened. Can you tell what, using only the clues mentioned in this bullet point?
• On p354, as S climbs through the dense band of forest along the hillside up to the governor’s mansion in the territory, he catalogs the sound of several birds that he hears that “sound out of place to him.” They include, in order: a merlin, a crow, an oystercatcher, and a magpie tanager.” There is something very significant about these four birds. Can you see what it is before you read further?
• If you look very closely at the postcard inserts (the ones that Eric sent to Jen on his trip to find FXC in Brazil), particularly the one that was inserted between pages 192-193, you can see that the address has been overwritten with a heavy, black marker. However, if you look closely, you can barely make out the actual location of Pronghorn State University. Look at it yourself. Then, go research that area and see if there is anything significant that might help understand “S” better. If you don’t have the patience, see for yourself here.
• Besides the name S__, several locations in Ship of Theseus are also left either unnamed (the city in which the book opens) or with only the first letter(s) provided: B__, G__, El H__, P__. P__ is mentioned on p321. It doesn’t take much research on Wikipedia to discover what the name of that city is. The others, though, are more of a mystery. And yet we seem to be challenged to discover them. For example, B__ and G__ are close to each other and both lie on the eastern coast of some country/island. We know this because, if you read the details in Agent X (Chapter 4), you will see that S, Stenfalk, Corbeau, Ostrero, and Pfeifer head south from B__ (obviously a coastal town since S washed up in it) to the small port town of G__, which is over the mountains. We know that the coastline is to their right as they look North because of p151-152. At the end of the next chapter, after S leaps into the sea from the cave with Corbeau, he descends into the water so deeply that he startles a school of black scabbardfish. These fish exist only in the Atlantic Ocean between the latitudes of 69° N and 27° N. These details narrow down the location of B__ enough to where, with enough detective work, we might be able to figure out the name of the city – and that may be a clue in and of itself to help solve the rest of the mystery.

What about the EOTVOS Wheel?
As you have noticed, there are ciphers encoded into Ship of Theseus by FXC with clues in the footnotes. Many of those ciphers are solved by Eric and Jen. Included in the very back of the book Ship of Theseus there is a code wheel that contains various letters (of which you can only see five at a time) and a wheel that lets you change which letters you see by choosing different geographical coordinates in latitude and longitude. Chapter 10 has no cipher solution as presented by Eric and Jen, but they mention that there must be one. If you pay careful attention to the footnotes, you will notice that each one contains a location on the earth that can easily have its geographical coordinates located. Given this, is it possible that the EOTVOS wheel could be used in conjunction with those coordinates in order to obtain a hidden message to VMS from FXC? Give it a try. When you are done, you can check your work here.

What Do I Do Now?
I encourage you to seek your own connections using the marginalia fragments, scattered facts within Ship of Theseus, and doing your own research and post about them on your own blog or in the comments below so that we can all work together and put the story together better. Here are a few ideas of things to ponder or resources to examine.

• On p403, Ship of Theseus mentions a woman drowned in wine and washing ashore in Cap de Bol. In the margins, Jen says this actually happened. A newspaper in Marseilles reported it happening on 3/19/1948. But if VMS wrote this long before his supposed death on June 6, 1946, how did he write about something that did not happen until two years later?
• There has been no known solution to the Interlude or Chapter 9 (Birds of Negative Space) ciphers, if there are any.
• The EOTVOS Wheel website is officially part of the story and contains more information about the various Straka candidates and Santorini man murders that may help you understand more.
• The McKay Magazine’s review of Ship of Theseus by Edsel B. Grimshaw, also official, is the review mentioned by Eric in the margins on p18 and p106.
• The Summersby Confession (also official) in audio format (transcription included) is the tape that Ilsa stole for Moody that helped him advance his book promoting the idea that VMS was Victor Martin Summersby.
• On p328, Jen repeats her conviction that there is some sort of code present in the “wall-writing” – the words that S cuts into the wood of his room on the xebec and the words he actually intended to write. No one has yet presented a solution.
• Now that you know roughly in what order Jen and Eric communicated with each other (the different color inks), you can reread their story somewhat chronologically and likely understand things better.
• What does the valise signify? And why is time so often mentioned in conjunction with it?
• What does follow the monkey mean?

Please feel free to include your own suggestions/questions about what to do next in the comments below. Or, even better, post some answers if you think you have some.

“S” is Absurd

Tags

Absurd, Absurdity, Doug Dorst, FXC, JJ Abrams, Ship of Theseus, Sola, Straka Candidates, V.M. Straka, VM Straka, VMS, Waterspout

Repeatedly throughout Ship of Theseus, the word absurd is used to describe something that seems improbably or impossible. However, there seems to be a tease in each of those cases, as if we should look further…

Absurd, on the face of it, but true somewhere beneath. (p72)

Below is a catalog of these absurdities. Perhaps the truth is somewhere beneath…

Straka Candidates (ix)

A little girl receiving messages from a fourteenth-century nun! An ancient Nazca king, originally from a distant planet! Grand Duchess Olga, writing both before and after her murder!) and other absurdities (A murderous Serbian nationalist known only as “Apis’s Amanuensis”! The almost-certainly-fictional “Last Spanish Pirate” Juan Blas Covarrubias! The proverbial million monkeys!), which merit mention only to be scoffed at.

A Connection Between Sola’s Drink and the Waterspout (72)

He remembered, then, that flash of connection—the waterspout, her drink. A message from some deep recess of his mind: he was not a stranger to her. Sola? Absurd, on the face of it, but true somewhere beneath, and when he pushed off from the harbor mine, that truth helped drive him to shore.

S Swam Many Degrees of Latitude after the Ship was Destroyed (73-74)

The air has an autumnal feel, much cooler than it was earlier today on the ship—such a radical change that S., for a moment, imagines he has swum across many degrees of latitude. Of course such a notion is absurd; it may even be a sign that his mind is slipping, that the long, cold swim has gravely compromised him, that he might be at risk of blacking out anddeparting this world as an anonymous bit of humanjetsam pinned under a wharf beneath a strange city. 

The Detective in the Browncoat Recognizes S and Winks at Him (83)

When he sweeps his gaze across the factory, his eyes are drawn to the brown-dustered Detective swiveling a spotlight on the roof. He lets his gaze settle too long, though, and gets a shock in return. The browncoat seems to meet his eye directly, may even have brushed the brim of his fedora and nodded in his direction. S. feels his stomach tighten. He might be mistaken—he must be mistaken—but what if he is one of them?No, he tells himself. Absurd. More absurd thoughts from a mind that is in no condition to be trusted. 

The Harbor in B__ is Mined (122)

“They’ve accused us of mining the harbor, too. To interfere with Vévoda’s business.”           

“That’s absurd. Again, I would have known.”

“For what it’s worth,” S. says, “the harbor is mined. Well, there’s one mine, anyway. I ran into it as I was swimming.”

Corbeau is Indirectly Responsible for the Bomb in B__ (132-133)

“Are you and Stenfalk—” He pauses to consider his phrasing. “A couple?”

“What makes you ask?”

“Curiosity.”           

“Well,” she says. “Not formally. But yes, we are, in a way that has scandalized some of the more limited minds around us.”

“Ostrero’s wife?”           

“You noticed? I’m certain she blames me for all of this. Some sort of free-floating carnal witchery, I suppose, that plagues all the men around me. And, apparently, that detonates explosives in crowded places.”

“Absurd.”

 The Valise S Receives from Abdim at the Storehouse in El H__ is Stenfalk’s Valise (246)

It reminds him of Stenfalk’s valise, the one he left behind in the hills, although it seems smaller, the leather thinner, the handle made from a lighter-colored wood. It looks enough like Stenfalk’s to give pause, but of course it could not be the same one. Could it? No. Absurd.

S’s Job is to Find Vevoda’s Agents and Poison Them

His task, it would seem, is to seek out these people and poison them. This, of course, is absurd. He does not know where these people are. He does not know where—or even when—he himself is. He has no idea how to track a person who does not want to be found.

Strange Details about the Territory