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The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
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PeterScott
Heinlein Nexus
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:10 am Posts: 2236 Location: Pacific NorthWest
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The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
A very minor point but Google suggests that it has not been hitherto noted.
On browsing some Kipling recently I noted that there is a Just So story called "The Cat that Walked by Himself." I submit that this is the obvious inspiration for the title of TCWWTW.
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Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:44 pm |
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JamesGifford
PITA Bred
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 12:17 pm Posts: 2402 Location: The Quiet Earth
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Re: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
Peter, you naughty boy! I didn't know you kippled!
(Enough Mauve Decade jokes for one night...)
_________________ "Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders." - Luther In the end, I found Heinlein is finite. Thus, finite analysis is needed.
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Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:58 pm |
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EricPicholle
Centennial Attendee
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:08 am Posts: 29 Location: Nice, France
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Re: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
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Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:20 am |
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PeterScott
Heinlein Nexus
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:10 am Posts: 2236 Location: Pacific NorthWest
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Re: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
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Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:00 am |
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BillPatterson
Heinlein Biographer
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:33 pm Posts: 1024
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Re: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - derivation
I don't know if this will be helpful, but --
The original title of the book was The World Snake, but the editors didn't like a title with "snake" in it. So it became "The Reluctant Knight" (Heinlein typed the new title on a 3x4" label and pasted it over the title page; over the years the gum dried up and the label fell off). At some point Ginny suggested "He Walks Through Walls." Heinlein said something like "That's not quite right, but you've got something there" and came up with the title. Ginny's only objection was that Pixel not being a human, it should be the Cat That Walks. Nonsense, R said.
Given that the title came from Ginny, it might well have a remote root in the Kipling story title -- though, as Eric points out, there is no resemblance of the stories. And though Heinlein was less a fan of Kipling's stories than of his poetry, it's entirely possible that his reworking of the title was equally inspired by the Kipling title.
I rate this a good conjecture.
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Tue Aug 26, 2008 6:07 am |
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