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| A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? https://infinitesummer.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=297 |
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| Author: | Convexity [ Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:11 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
I'm really bad at this kind of math stuff, but has anyone tried to account for any of these time oddities in terms how subsidized time operates on a lunar calendar (sorry, don't have the page #, but it was mentioned early on)? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar Each year would be slightly shorter (I'm guessing that O.N.A.N. didn't do the 13-month calendar), and also, how sure are we that each subsidized year starts in January?[*] Unsure if this is a spoiler, really: [*]Don't have the book near me, so I could be very wrong if it's stated clearly somewhere. I swear, I'm not an idiot! |
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| Author: | doubtful geste [ Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:46 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
I once spent some time trying to fiddle with this, mostly to see if it would resolve the one big chunk of text that absolutely doesn't seem to fit other clues to timelines in the book, which is the descriptionof Mario's birth and background (p. 312-317) (most other departures from how the years as we know it line up with Subsidized Time seem expicable as typos and lapses by DFW). But I've never found anything to suggest an extra month or to suggest that the months as we know them are out of sync with clues about the seasons, etc. in the narrative. For example, the snow during the Eschaton scene in November. If I accept (and I do) the basic info we have so far to the spoiler line that mostly seems to suggest YDAU=2009, I can make the week days and calendar dates match nicely, as well as the seasons. However, if I go to a 12 month lunar calendar, I get a calendar of about 354 days, and even if I fudge the starting point of subsidized time by a year or two either way, I end up with the two calendars (the 12 month regular and lunar versions) being around 80 to 100 days apart by the eighth year of subsidization (YDAU), which means we should be off by a full season (basically, it would be late summer/early fall in "November" of YDAU). So I think the lunar calendar has to be a sort of one-off joke by DFW unless someone can find one of the following: -evidence of moon phases in the text that could be used to correspond to the calendar (I haven't really looked for these in any detail myself) -evidence of a thirteen month cycle, or of some other sort of intercalery period, like a thirteen day yearly hiatus to match the 354 day cycle to the 365 day cycle -a definition of a "lunar" calendar that still averages 30-31 days/month like our traditional calendar -evidence that the "snow" and other seasonal hints of various scenes are the result of some outside force (?fallout from the concavity? ?accelerated global warming effects?) -evidence of some other explanation of the seeming disjunction between some of the timeline clues (?certain groups purposesly/politically ignoring Johnny Gentle's Lunar Calendar?, some metatextual literary reason to assume Mario, Orin, and Hal exist in some sort of separate timelines from each other?) -(your theory here) eta: corrected my tendency to type "254" or "265" where I meant "354" or "365," respectively |
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| Author: | Convexity [ Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
The heavy snowfall towards the end of November YDAU would suggest that unless there is some other environment factor, that there hasn't been a significant shift in the calendar year. Of course, in [New] New England, anything can happen weather-wise. If all the timeline issues are in fact author errors, I guess the best explanation for the lunar calendar would be the prevalence all-around "lunacy!" Ohhhh, no rimshot smiley? |
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| Author: | dna [ Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
| Author: | JRLSberro [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:31 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
| Author: | illogicaljoker [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
I laugh hysterically remembering this headline (p. 398): FREAK STATUE OF LIBERTY ACCIDENT KILLS FED ENGINEER - Header; BRAVE MAN ON CRANE CRUSHED BY 5 TON CAST IRON BURGER - 12-point subheader If the regular Whopper doesn't kill you, this one most certainly will. |
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| Author: | JRLSberro [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
| Author: | Convexity [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 2:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
| Author: | dna [ Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
| Author: | JRLSberro [ Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:31 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: A Flaw in DFW's Timeline? |
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