54.a Telegramm

The first telegramm waIMG_3244s originally written in German to Karst & Sons Publishers on November 19, 1924. In this telegram, Straka announces that FXC will be his new translator in NYC. He demands that FXC will be paid by the publishers or else he will stop working with Karst. The telegram was sent from Valparaíso, Chile. The Telegramm is on record at the Straka Arkiv at Uppsala.

While the Straka Arkiv (Archive) is fictional, Uppsala is a real research university and is the oldest in Sweden. The city of Valparaíso, Chile is also a real city. There are a lot of references to South America, including VMS apparently being in Chile, drawing inspiration from the Nazca lines in Peru in the Spotted Cat, and FXC moving to Brazil.

Karst and Son Publishers obviously complied with this request, as FXC went on to translate the rest of his novels.
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The second telegraph was sent from Baghdad, but charged to McKay’s Magazine in Boston on February 8, 1943. VMS sent it to Griffin Gates at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago. He says that it is dangerous and embarrassing locate him and that he should not look for him or contact Caldeira.

McKay’s Magazine was not a real magazine, but Doug Dorst did tweet an excerpt from the magazine showing a review of Ship of Theseus.

This negative review was written after this telegraph was sent.

Also, Griffin Gates is a fictional character, but coincides with the aviary names. The Bismarck Hotel on the other hand, is a real luxury hotel started by the German Eitel brothers. This hotel was open under the name New Bismarck Hotel when this telegram was sent.

Bismarck Hotel, Chicago, 1894-1924.jpg
Bismarck Hotel, Chicago, 1894-1924” by Urheberrechtsgesetz § 72 – [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.