Our Neighbor by David Copperfield

Publication(s)

  • First publication
    • Future Tense, ed. Lee Harding, 1978
  • Wolfe collection(s)

Wolfe's comments from the Introduction to Endangered Species

Because you have sometimes pitied others, I have told you "Our Neighbor by David Copperfield," and because others have sometimes pitied you, "The Headless Man."

Summary

David Copperfields's neighbor carries out a social experiment concerning pity.

Analysis

  • David Copperfield is of course the famous Charles Dickens character from the eponymous book. It takes place soon after his marriage to Dora.
  • The story was originally written for a collection of fictional writer stories proposed by Philip Jose Farmer. The collection was to include stories "written" by the likes of Kilgore Trout. It never published and this story is one of the few published elsewhere.

Unresolved Questions

  • Was it A or was it B, or was it X or Z?
  • Was it he or was it she, or was it you or me?
  • Who dunnit?
  • Did the Star Child really start WWIII at the end of 2001?

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