2nd hand stumper
Dates: 3/14/02,10:21 AM through 3/18/02,1:37 PM (8 postings)
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Fiction_L Archives
2nd hand stumper
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FROM: [removed]@lib.state.ca.us
REC'D: 3/14/02, 10:21 AM
Brent
Brent Miller
Government Publications Section
654-0243
FROM: "Kathy Loucks" <[removed]@cml.lib.oh.us>
REC'D: 3/14/02, 10:32 AM
Could this be The Man Who grew Young by Daniel Quinn? It's a graphic
novel.
Kathleen Loucks
Columbus Metropolitan Library
Columbus, OH
FROM: Michele Reinhart <[removed]@ghpl.org>
REC'D: 3/14/02, 12:29 PM
There's also a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald called "The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button" which is about a man who ages in reverse. I read it some
time ago and can't remember if he had children, but I seem to recall a wife
who gets older and older as he gets younger and younger.
Michele Reinhart
Grandview Heights Public Library
Columbus, OH
I
>===== Original Message From "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
=====
>A colleague has not read but heard of a novel about a man who ages backwards.
>When he becomes an infant his children take care of him, and he finally
ceases
>to exist. Anyone?
>
>Brent
>
>Brent Miller
>Government Publications Section
>654-0243
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html
FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 3/14/02, 2:27 PM
Stories of this sort were mentioned here just a couple of weeks ago
in relation to a time travel thread: see below, from the Archives--
******************************
>The story is about a young lady who is traveling through time backwards.
>She is reliving her life one year at a time. She starts out in her 30s
>or 40's and unages? A year at a time. She doesn't remember what
>happened to her later in her life. The family finally realizes unless
>the time unaging stops she will unage to before she was born. Any
>takers? (don't remember anything about the title or author sorry). She
>is physically as well as mentally unaging(?)
>Jean
************
This describes the situation of one character in Dan Simmon's
HYPERION and THE FALL OF HYPERION books, but it's only one plot
strand among many and gets little "on stage" time, so I doubt
that's the one you're recalling. Some other booklength "time
runs backward and people get younger" titles include Philip
K. Dick's COUNTERCLOCK WORLD; Daniel Quinn's current THE MAN
WHO GREW YOUNG; and Martin Amis' TIME'S ARROW, but none match
the plot you describe. If you or someone else does remember
the name of this book, I'd be happy to hear about it as I have
a mild interest in the subject (piqued mostly by writing a
couple of letters chiding reviewers who seemed to think Quinn's
represented some sort of new idea).
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
**********
This also might be Turnabout (YA) by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Here's
the book description:
"It isn't natural for you to be younger than your great-grandchildren.
We messed around with nature, and we shouldn't have. Melly and Anny Beth
both lived normal lives throughout the 20th century. But in 2000, when
they are old and ready to die, they are selected to participate in
Project Turnabout and are given an injection to make them grow
younger..."
Claudia Breland
King County Library System, Issaquah, WA
******************
Besides the novels listed above (well, novella at most in the case of
the Quinn book), two classic short stories on this theme are Scott
Fitzgerald's "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which someone else
just cited, and Fritz Leiber's "The Man Who Never Grew Young" (I'd
assumed Quinn derived his title from the Leiber story as a homage,
but maybe not).
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
FROM: Barb Kruser <[removed]@nileslibrary.org>
REC'D: 3/14/02, 2:37 PM
Barb Kruser
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Lien [[removed]@tc.umn.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 2:21 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Re: 2nd hand stumper
At 08:17 AM 3/14/02 -0800, you wrote:
>A colleague has not read but heard of a novel about a man who ages
backwards.
>When he becomes an infant his children take care of him, and he finally
ceases
>to exist. Anyone?
>
>Brent
>
>Brent Miller
>Government Publications Section
>654-0243
Stories of this sort were mentioned here just a couple of weeks ago
in relation to a time travel thread: see below, from the Archives--
******************************
>The story is about a young lady who is traveling through time backwards.
>She is reliving her life one year at a time. She starts out in her 30s
>or 40's and unages? A year at a time. She doesn't remember what
>happened to her later in her life. The family finally realizes unless
>the time unaging stops she will unage to before she was born. Any
>takers? (don't remember anything about the title or author sorry). She
>is physically as well as mentally unaging(?)
>Jean
************
This describes the situation of one character in Dan Simmon's
HYPERION and THE FALL OF HYPERION books, but it's only one plot
strand among many and gets little "on stage" time, so I doubt
that's the one you're recalling. Some other booklength "time
runs backward and people get younger" titles include Philip
K. Dick's COUNTERCLOCK WORLD; Daniel Quinn's current THE MAN
WHO GREW YOUNG; and Martin Amis' TIME'S ARROW, but none match
the plot you describe. If you or someone else does remember
the name of this book, I'd be happy to hear about it as I have
a mild interest in the subject (piqued mostly by writing a
couple of letters chiding reviewers who seemed to think Quinn's
represented some sort of new idea).
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
**********
This also might be Turnabout (YA) by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Here's
the book description:
"It isn't natural for you to be younger than your great-grandchildren.
We messed around with nature, and we shouldn't have. Melly and Anny Beth
both lived normal lives throughout the 20th century. But in 2000, when
they are old and ready to die, they are selected to participate in
Project Turnabout and are given an injection to make them grow
younger..."
Claudia Breland
King County Library System, Issaquah, WA
******************
Besides the novels listed above (well, novella at most in the case of
the Quinn book), two classic short stories on this theme are Scott
Fitzgerald's "Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which someone else
just cited, and Fritz Leiber's "The Man Who Never Grew Young" (I'd
assumed Quinn derived his title from the Leiber story as a homage,
but maybe not).
Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu
FROM: "Megan Ellis" <[removed]@denver.lib.co.us>
REC'D: 3/14/02, 3:40 PM
Megan S.F. Ellis
Cataloging Assistant
(720) 865-1130
Denver Public Library
10 W. 14th Ave. Pkwy.
Denver, CO 80204
FROM: [removed]@lib.state.ca.us
REC'D: 3/14/02, 6:17 PM
Brent
Brent Miller
Government Publications Section
654-0243
FROM: Bradley A Scott <[removed]@juno.com>
REC'D: 3/18/02, 1:37 PM
Another short story of this type is Cordwainer Smith's "Himself in
Anachron", although it may not be the specific story the patron is
remembering.
Bradley A. Scott
(Poised precariously somewhere between first and second childhood)
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