NH: Made me think a lot too. I've always felt it a strong possibility
that we'll never be able to recognize alien intelligence because it'll be
so, well, *alien* that none of our markers for judging will apply. The
behaviour of an alien being may be completely incomprehensible. There is
also the possibility that Sarah's dress wasn't so much a spacesuit as it
was a cocoon (if I remember, there are references to butterflies all
through the novel). That made me think of references throughout human
history to sentient non-human beings living among us--the green children,
for example--whose behaviour is also incomprehensible. I think that
Karen Joy Fowler has deliberately not answered any of those speculations,
and I really like that. I have my own theories about what the %#@$&?)(*?
was going on with Sarah Canary, and given Karen's silence on the matter,
they're probably about as valid as any other.
-nalo
On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, Joel VanLaven wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, Nalo Hopkinson wrote:
>
> > Anybody going to leap in on Joel's question about Sarah Canary? Joel,
> > I've heard it called a first contact story. Which makes it possible to
> > see her dress in a whole new light.
>
> That is an interesting angle, and one that seemed to be implied. However,
> I see it as problematic. Sarah Canary seemed so passive. I kept
> expecting her to do something that was obviously an attempt at
> communication or something but she never did. Also, all that stuff about
> stages and how she changed made mw think it might be something else. Yet
> she also seemed to defend herslef a bit and to charm people somehow. It
> is confusing, frustrating, and in a way very satisfying. Few books make
> me think and wonder about them this much.
>
> -- Joel VanLaven
>
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