Challenge 398

Loud and Clear

1. In A. Frank Bower’s “The Rule of Three”:

   1. Why does Badger choose the scene from a play by Jean Genet? Why is it referred to as “perverted” and “depraved”? What does it mean that Chuck realizes his visualization is not “perverted”?
   2. How does Mr. Badger’s part in his final conversation with “Chuck” illustrate the rule of three?
   3. Bonus question: Are the actors’ experiences the same or different in “The Rule of Three” and Carmen Ruggero’s “The Audition,” in issue 200?

2. In David Weaver’s “The Last City”:

   1. Why might the story be set in an ahistorical Istanbul?
   2. What would be the advantage in choosing a fictitious city — even one on another planet — as the setting?

3. How might Kathryn Lee’s “Marlys and Jim” be staged as a one-scene play? Is Marlys a tragic or comic figure?

4. Two of the short stories have an ‘open ending’:

   1. How would you continue Noel Denvir’s “Sunday Girl” after the church door closes?

   2. Kaushik Viswanath’s “Chimera Khanna” starts as a potential tragedy and ends as a comedy.

      1. Whom do Chandra and little Sanjana see: Dr Khanna with an extra mind or the body of Dr Muthu — a total stranger — into which Dr Khanna has been transplanted? If the latter, how can anybody else recognize him as Dr Khanna?
      2. The author explains that in Indian usage, “uncle” or “aunty” can be used not as honorifics or an expression of relationship but as nouns to designate a man or woman of a certain age. Does adding a linking hyphen alert non-Indian readers to this special usage or is it necessary at all?
      3. How does the story make the transition from tragedy to comedy?
      4. How does the byplay of the disk jockey’s telephone call enhance the comic timing?
      5. What do you think Dr Muthu might say after he clears his throat, at the end? What might Dr Khanna say?

5. Bonus topic: Jean de La Fontaine’s La Cigale et la fourmi is a quotation, not a submission to Bewildering Stories as an original work. As a classic of world literature, it has for centuries been a very enjoyable challenge to translators in all languages. Judging by any of the three versions on the page — the original, the Esperanto, or the English:

   1. Why do you think this poem was La Fontaine’s personal favorite?
   2. And speaking of “open-ended stories,” why might this be the only fable that La Fontaine did not conclude with a moral?

Responses welcome!

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