When I Was Ming the Merciless

Publication(s)

• First publication
  • The Ides of Tomorrow, ed. Terry Carr, 1975.
• Wolfe collection(s)
  • Plan[e]t Engineering (1984)
  • Endangered Species (1989)

Wolfe's comments from the Introduction to Endangered Species

"It must have a voice that is not purposelessly changed (as that of the typical leader in When I Was Ming the Merciless), at least one character (the madman who composes My Book, for example), and at least one event to narrate, though in a few of the stories you may have to search carefully to find it."

Summary

A political science major becomes a leader in a social experiment, with deadly results.

Analysis

• Sources of quotes
• Meanings of names
• References to other works
• Theories about what happens under the surface, what the narrator isn't telling us, who the narrator is and when and why s/he is telling the story, what the whole thing "means," etc.
  If there are multiple or competing theories, each one should be given a name with a three-bang (!!!) header; if the page begins to get out-of-hand from the size of these, as could happen in a few cases, they should be shuffled off to their own page(s).
• Etc.

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?

< Our Neighbour by David Copperfield | Endangered Species | The God and His Man >