I'm new (to the Fforum, not the books), and I did some searches and skimmed through past threads and didn't see this topic. Please forgive me if you've hashed it out already.

Since Landen is an author (and I do think he writes fiction, but maybe I'm mistaken), shouldn't his books be in the Great Library? I believe it said in LIAGB or WOLP that all books that had ever been written or would ever be written were in the Great Library. So doesn't it follow that Landen's books would be there whether he was eradicated or not? The Book World seems rather immune to what goes on in the Outland, save for cross-world kerfuffles like when Kaine summoned the Questing Beast. I don't think that eradication in the Outland would have an effect on the books in the Great Library, since the Book World prides itself on using authors in the Outland as talking (writing?) puppets. Could Thursday have used Landen's books to help her fight Aornis and/or aid in her attempts to have Landen reactualized? Something to ponder...

Hmmm…good point. Perhaps the only effect of Landen's eradication would be that his published books would be transported back to the Well, since they are still books that would have been written.

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As long as Landen's books are not autobiographical, would they be of much help to Thursday? Maybe they would simply get another author, then.

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Even if they were autobiographical, they would only contain generics who had been trained to be exactly like Landen. Rather like the way Lola, although she seems exactly like Lola Vavoom, is not the same person (TBOE notwithstanding).

Of course, a Landen generic would still be of great use and comfort to Thursday, much as her memory of Landen was.

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of the book jacket or something. If Miss Havisham can jump into a clothing washing label, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Thursday could have found solace in Landen's picture/description on his books.

It is an interesting thought (and one I hadn't had) that they might just find a different author for Landen's books. That would be dreadful indeed!

I just discovered this thread 3 years after its creation... but can't help to put my two cents in.

I have always understand eradication in the book like a concept in quantum mechanics. I believe as the way Fford created it, eradication isn't anything similar to killing off a guy, but a side-slip between parallel universes. So eradication is not an event that can just "happen" at a time and place. It is more like an act of jumping from one timeline to a separate one. (in this case, bringing Thursday alone from her universe into a Landen-less one). And if eradication is not an event, then it is not something that can be considered to merely "take place in the outland" and thus "not affecting the bookworld". By no means is Fforde suggesting the bookworld exists in a parallel universe. In all the examples seen in the series, bookworld shares the same history and timeline with outland. If outland is a house, than the bookworld is merely its basement with restricted access. While the basement is more or less "unaffected" by events upstairs, it still exists in the same house.

Put it another way: it is not like Landen's eradication is something happen in a house, and then its basement has to decided whether to match it or not. The way What Goliath has done is like abducting Thursday from that house and lock her into an almost identical one next door, but sadly with no Landen there. MOST IMPORTANTLY, this new house has its own basement where Landen didn't just disappeared--he is simply unheard of.

*sigh* I wrote too long... IN ONE SENTENCE: the Landen-less universe that Thursday was stuck in has a Landen-less bookworld and a great library without Landen's book. Landen is simply unheard of.

The reason I am so convinced is that I have noticed the relationship between outland and bookworld is very different from that between parallel universes. Take this example: when an narrated act is modified in Jane Eyre or any book, it is immediately reflected in the printed version in outland. This relationship is very different from what happen between parallel universes, where events are independents (after the point they branch out and become separated from another).

Ok... in the end I do personally wish a fictional Landen can spend some time with real Thursday during that few years... but come to think of it, isn't that cheating?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2010 02:37PM by Hdcreepy.

Quote "Put it another way: it is not like Landen's eradication is something happen in a house, and then its basement has to decided whether to match it or not. The way What Goliath has done is like abducting Thursday from that house and lock her into an almost identical one next door, but sadly with no Landen there. MOST IMPORTANTLY, this new house has its own basement where Landen didn't just disappeared--he is simply unheard of."
But then you have to ask what about Thursday in the first house. Is she unheard of there now she has disappeared?

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