On Tue, 4 Mar 2003, David Goldfarb wrote: > From: "Ruhlen, Rachel Louise (UMC-Student)" <RuhlenR at missouri.edu> > >Remember in _PG_ where they go after Kathana and Paarfi launches into a > >diatribe about this really rotten play he saw one time where the main > >character NEVER APPEARED ON STAGE but it wasn't going to be like that in > >THIS story? I think Mario is that character. > > Um, I don't mean to be insulting or anything, but I do want to make > sure that you are aware of Samuel Beckett's play _Waiting for Godot_? > It's quite well-known. The two main characters spend the whole play > standing around waiting, and the title character never does appear. > My impression is that Brust was riffing on that. SKZB might also have been riffing on Borges - this sort of referential play is typical of the latter's work, and the former's - I'm thinking of the joke about Rosenkranz and Guildenstern somewhere in Paarfi.