Has anyone got any ideas.......?

[peter]

Has anyone got any ideas about what Dr Berenford was refering to when, at the start of 'The Wounded Land' he says to Linden (of Covenant's previously published work)

"Since then," the Chief of Staff continued, "he's published seven novels, and that's where you can really see the difference. Oh, he's mentioned something about three or four other manuscripts, but I don't know anything about them. The point is...."

Is this a cryptic reference to the 1st three books plus 'Gilden Fire' as the 'or four' bit?

[Vader]

I don't think so. "7" is just a cool number and "3 or 4" sounds better than "5 or 6".

[dlbpharmd]

Agreed, I don't see any hidden significance.

[Relayer]

Yea, I don't either.

On the other hand, I'd LOVE to read those books

[Blackhawk]

By the Seven... i cant think of a thing either....

well seven comes up twice in that part of the book... 3 or 4... if you add them they also make 7.... wasnt one of the giants in this series also named... Sevenhand? I wonder if that name was given while he was drunk on Diamondraught.. a name given possibly by female giants? off track more likely because while sailing he seemed to have seven hands he worked so well?

dunno.. Seven definately has power in this series..not sure if any underlying meaning is intended though.

would have been funny had SRD rather than R stevens had been T Covenant, using his own works as the books TC had written in the TCTC...but that a bit more like something Stephen King would do.. off track again.

[Vader]

would have been funny had SRD rather than R stevens had been T Covenant, using his own works as the books TC had written in the TCTC...but that a bit more like something Stephen King would do.. off track again.

That would have been too much At Swim Two Birds by Flann O'Brien.

[Relayer]

And I think that Giant was named Sevinhand ...

[peter]

Mmmm..... The general concensus seems to be that the reference to these other manuscripts has no underlying signifficance (re the Ist chronicles being possibly the 'three or four manuscripts' that are being refered to) and that the sentance is, if you like, just 'padding' in respect of the narrative flow. I still have my doubts. The sentence seems so superfluous if no intent lies behind its inclusion, and yet I agree that if it were a reference to the 1st chronicles it would not be in charachter with Donaldson 'the Perfectionist' as I percieved him to be. (By the way, I wasn't really suggesting that the 3+4=7 numbers were of any significance - more that the 3 or 4 could (though I guess probably not) be a way of refering to the 1st three books and the 'part book' that is Gilden Fire).

[wayfriend]

I believe the significance is to indicate to the reader that Covenant was writing fairly prolifically. The manuscripts would represent as-yet-unpublished works, and Covenant was working hard enough to have a stack of them.

It's worth remembering that writing is, in this story, a metaphor for Creation. So this signifies that Covenant is more in tune with his Creator side, a positive outcome of his adventures in the Land.

And also that SRD writes very slowly. I'm sure that, to him, someone writing so fast as to have a stack of unpublished manuscripts represents a very prolific writer indeed.

[SGuilfoyle1966]

Has anyone got any ideas about what Dr Berenford was refering to when, at the start of 'The Wounded Land' he says to Linden (of Covenant's previously published work)

"Since then," the Chief of Staff continued, "he's published seven novels, and that's where you can really see the difference. Oh, he's mentioned something about three or four other manuscripts, but I don't know anything about them. The point is...."

Is this a cryptic reference to the 1st three books plus 'Gilden Fire' as the 'or four' bit?

Let's see, The Gap Series is four books.
Mordant's Need is two.
That's six.
Any standalone novels that is just SRD, not his pseudonymous writings?
That might be the seven.

Three or four others, that would be first trilogy plus Gilden Fire.
Guys, if you are a writer, you write what you know.

A Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever written by the Unbeliever himself? HELLFIRE.

[SGuilfoyle1966]

I seriously think the other three or four was Covenant thinking out loud that he had some personal experiences he could tap in a second and whip out three or four.
But he did the others.
The funny thing is, I don't see Covenant opening up with ANYONE in the real world enough to convey those sentiments, at least not to someone like Berenford.
He doesn't open up until WAY late in the fourth book.

[ninjaboy]

Maybe it's the nubver of what is it? crime/ mystery/ books that Donaldon's written.. Either way it's kinda.. well.. Unimportant?

[peter]

Thanks for that Ninjaboy. I see those 'Magnetism' tablets are really working!

[Thorhammerhand]

Like wise I believe that the novels that TC wrote have no relation to SRD's writings. I recon that they were life reactions to his experiences in the Land, his book 'Or I will sell my soul for guilt' was proberbly inspired by his guilt for ShFf's death.

Maybe SRD should publish those books

[ninjaboy]

Something to do with each of A-Jeroth's 7 hells?

[Krazy Kat]

I don't have TWL at the moment and it's a passage I can't remember.
But a couple of years ago I got the chance to ask SD (at an FR booksigning) how on Earth did he find the idea/concept for wild magic!

He said that he and his wife both chose white gold wedding rings and when he was writing the chronicles he had a shack by a creek really named Ritters Creek and to understand the character of TC he had to walk around in his mindset...

What I find interesting about all this is that since joining Kevin's Watch I've steadily discovered little by little about the way SD works as a writer and have formed my own ideas on what he has set out to achieve with TC, and, subsequently enjoy reading the books more than ever. What I'm trying to say is that Jane Austin, for example, was able to write characters so intensely and with such clarity that certain passages would become difficult for the reader to separate character from writer.
Anyway, I didn't intend to write this much, so, not wishing to stir up a hornet's nest I'll conclude with...

maybe there is something significant to that passage and reappears further into the book equally brief and cogent.

[Thorhammerhand]

It doesn't

That's why I believe that it is just a short thing to explain how TC has been coping for the last 10 years

Maybe next time there is a book signing some one can ask SRD in person

[Krazy Kat]

ninjaboy is right - the seven hells add up!

This is the Wounded Land we're talking about here. TC has been stabbed in the heart and removed from where the blow struck, to...elsewhere!
He can't defend himself from the wickedest critics imaginable...A-Jeroth and the Seven Hells. But here's the deal...if we (the readers) believe in wild magic, then so does Covenant - really!
It's that easy.

Thank God the law of death had been broken and his friends were able to help him out.

[Thorhammerhand]

If we accept that the Land, indeed that whole world, is a product of TC's hallucinations, then this is plausible.

However, I don't see how, 'Or I will sell my soul for guilt' (the one title we do know), ties to any of the seven hells?

Anyone able to help here?