M & D and ATD, thematic homage, parallels, etc.

[Paul Mackin]

On Apr 24, 2007, at 8:18 PM, John BAILEY wrote:

> The other morning I got up and for some reason read the last few  
> pages of AtD and was struck by how terribly rich they are - and  
> also how similar to later parts of M&D. In both, we're asked to  
> imagine an alternate future: in M&D, it's the continuation of the  
> guys Westing, and in the case of AtD it's a post-war France where  
> Kit and Dally could resurface and spend endless nights happily (I  
> even picked up the intimation that one or both had died in the war,  
> but I might be projecting there). Difference being, in M&D we  
> return from that imaginary journey, and in AtD we move on to the  
> even more fanciful world of the Chums, with their city-sized  
> dirigibles ever-expanding and, importantly, soon powered by light...
>


In other words, the world is too nice a place to blow up.

An outcome entirely predictable from Pugnax's  favorite reading  
material (The Princess Casamassima)

Policarpe holds the opposite view. "We're in hell, you know."  "The  
world came to an end in 1914." (p.1070)

To which Dally strongly demurs.

Take your pick, ladies and gentlemen.

P.