Talk:The Planiverse

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Added redirect from Nsana--Planetary 02:05, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

No mention that this Novel is written in the form of non-fiction(or am I remembering incorrectly)? HighInBC ^{(Need help? Ask me)} 19:10, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, I don't have it here with me, so I can' be sure either. I think you're right. The introduction is written as if it was a few years after contact was lost, and the whole thing had been made public. The only bit that indicates it's all made up is the acknowledgments. --Planetary 20:30, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Dewdney spelled backwards is Yendwed

The author chose to give one of the student characters a speech impediment, where she substitutes "W" for "R". You calling that gratuitous, Xihr? 72.248.65.136 23:59, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

It's irrelevant whether it's "gratuitous" in the sense of going too far in a fictional story. The question is whether it's appropriate for an encyclopedia entry on the subject. At that level of describing what the story is about and what happens in it, it is completely irrelevant. Wikipedia is supposed to be an encyclopedia, not a trivia farm. Xihr 07:56, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

"... anyone—without specialist knowledge—who reads the primary source should be able to verify that the Wikipedia passage agrees with the primary source." The student character with the W/R speech anomaly has dialogue all through the book-- not at all difficult to spot. That "Yendwed" is an unscrambled reversal of "Dewdney" is similarly beyond dispute. I'm not proposing to include an essay on "why the author chose to give the character this speech pattern" in the article, nor an essay about how this Easter egg may offer a key to the author's (and narrator's) identification with the book's protagonist. Let the reader draw their own conclusion. I do maintain that this is not trivial, nor is it excessive plot summarization. 72.248.65.136 23:33, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

We're not discussing whether it's true or not. We're discussing whether it's suitable for inclusion in an encyclopedia. See what Wikipedia is not. Xihr 00:14, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely agreed. Our readings of WP:NOT seem to differ here. If you want, I can go on at greater length about why I think this bit is suitable and relevant, but it'll have to be a few days from now. __72.248.65.136 01:48, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Other sources beside Flatland?

Although certainly Edwin Abbott's Flatland is the primary source of influence behind Dewdney's work, does anyone else notice the connection to the German short story, "Das Őde Haus" - where the main character, or hero to the story is driven mad by an invisible voice he hears emanating from a corner in his room? It appears the very same thing happens here in The Planiverse, but with the invisible voice following him everywhere he goes, confined not in the least to a little corner in the room.198.177.27.18 (talk) 04:42, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

That seems like quite a stretch. Seriously, how many stories/movies/etc. involve characters who hear voices? Surely there are no reliable sources which claims such an inspiration. Xihr (talk) 20:51, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

If I could figure out how to write an umlaut O in the search window, I might try to go to the German version of Wikipedia, and nail down the author who wrote "Das Ode Haus". But it is possible I didn't understand your objection. I think Das Ode Haus was written or published around the year 1910, give or take 20 years. Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 09:22, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Military engagement in the Planiverse

I suppose I ought to just FORCE myself to sit down and read the whole book again, and get the answer for myself that way, but I was hoping this article would clear up the question quicker.

How did Yendred and his ilk wage war? Did the flow of military force basically boil down to a quantifiable wave of some kind, so a winner could be calculated based purely upon the number of soldiers in an army (and other quantifiable numbers) traveling in a particular direction?

Which page in the Planiverse dealt with military engagements? Or was this dealt with in one of the author's other communications elsewhere? Dexter Nextnumber (talk) 21:48, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

I seem to recall Yendred talking about Ardean history, and apparently even the largest armies are reduced to duels between two individuals at a time. I can't remember the exact page, but I'm positive that all battles are constrained in this way. There's an illustration too. Planetary (talk) 22:29, 22 November 2009 (UTC)