WHAT BEGINS, WHAT ENDS

The scene takes place in the Old Quarter, which S. feels a connection to, but can’t quite describe why. S., who at this point in the story, is solely referred to as “the man in the dark gray overcoat,” walks the street, and due to looming clouds and darkness, he is unsure “at any given moment whether he is heading toward the water or away from it.” This mirrors the circular structure of Ship of Theseus. Throughout the story, the water acts as a representation of oblivion and mystery, which S, is experiencing a lot of in this moment. Following suit with this cyclical structure, the title of this chapter, “What Begins, What Ends,” references a line that is repeated throughout the text, especially in this first chapter which reads “what begins at the water shall end there, and what ends there shall once more begin” (12). Such is true for S., the character in Ship of Theseus.

F.X. Caldiera notes in her first footnote of the story, that a character in Coriolis has a fictional ailment called “Eötvös Syndrome.”

Jen comments that the Eötvös wheel is the key to decoding Coriolis and wonders whether it would also help in SOT.

Eric encloses the wheel which he made by hand in high school.

This begins to reveal a bit about Eric socially, and Jen responds that she was not like that in high school.

Jen explains the “5 main arguments” regarding authorship.

Eric says that he believes VMS wrote SOT and FXC filled in where necessary, but she overstepped.

These were annotations from very early on in the Jen and Eric’s communication and it is likely that he would have changed his mind by the end of the text after actually meeting FXC and further research regarding the authorship question. Retroactively reading earlier comments by Jen and Eric highlights the need for adaptability in  literary scholarship.