From: jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel K. Furr)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.lemurs,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: lemurs in literature
Date: 22 Dec 92 19:21:16 GMT
Organization: Virginia Center for Lemur Fandom (subscribe to alt.fan.lemurs TODAY)

In article <TiP6VB2w164w@phsbbs.princeton.nj.us> rachel@phsbbs.princeton.nj.us (Rachel M. Kadel) writes:
>jfurr@polaris.async.vt.edu (Joel K. Furr) writes:
>> In article <UfBHAiS00VAu4GcUcD@andrew.cmu.edu> gh26+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gregory 
>> >how many authors can you think of who wrote about lemurs.I mean fiction
>> >authors not nature writers.I read an essay about the significance of
>> >lemurs in the writing of William S. Burroughs.something to do with
>> >heroin using homosexuals.That sounds like a lemur to me.I think if
>> >lemurs were marketed that way then maybe there would be more of a push
>> >for a National Geographic special about lemurs,maybe staring David Bowie.
>> 
>> Right off hand, I can't think of ANY authors who wrote about lemurs.  In
>> literature, I mean.  I guess authors have written about lemurs from a
>> scientific standpoint, but I've never read any serious literature in which
>> Lemurs appeared as important characters.  Anyone else?
>
>The only thing that occurs to me is that in _So Long and Thanks For All 
>the Fish_, by Douglas Adams, in chapter 24, when Arthur Dent is 
>unexpectedly flying, it says the following:
>        He tried not to think about the ground, what
>        an extraordinarily big thing it was and how
>        much it would hurt him if it decided to stop
>        hanging there and suddenly fell on him.  He
>        tried to think nice thoughts about lemurs 
>        instead, which was exactly the right thing
>        to do because he couldn't at that moment 
>        remember precisely what a lemur was, if it
>        was one of those things that sweep in great
>        majestic herds across the plains of wherever
>        it was or if that was wildebeests, so it was 
>        a tricky kind of thing to think nice thoughts
>        about without simply resorting to an icky sort
>        of general well-disposedness toward things, 
>        and all this kept his mind well occupied while
>        his body tried to adjust to the fact that it 
>        wasn't touching anything.

Indeed, I *had* forgotten about the lemurs in the mind of Arthur Dent,
despite having read that book.  It might be interesting if lemurs swept
across the plains in massive herds, but unfortunately they don't.  Most of
them live in trees in what remains of the Madagascar rain forest, with a
few living in reed beds around lakes in Madagascar.  Unfortunately, what
with the tendency of Malagasy citizens to burn off rain forest to use for
development land, the habitat of the lemurs is shrinking every year. 
Perhaps it would have been better in the long run if they had developed in
size and adapted to life on the plains.  No, 'cause then someone analogous
to Buffalo Bill would probably have popped up (Lemur Bill?) and shot them.

I think what we need here is a massive rec.arts.books/alt.fan.lemurs
writing effort to produce a book titled "Save The Lemurs".  Everyone,
please write a five-paragraph essay, spellchecked of course, on why you
feel lemurs are essential and should be saved.  Extra points will be given
for using the lemur word "frink" constructively.  Post your essays
publicly here in rec.arts.books and alt.fan.lemurs.  

>I now return you to your regularly scheduled flames about homosexuality, 
>unless you're reading this on alt.fan.lemurs, in which case I now return 
>you to your regularly scheduled weirdness.  (On second thought, this is 
>weirdness, although not regularly scheduled.  Whatever.)

What?  rec.arts.books is devoted to flames about homosexuality?  I would
have thought that it would have been about books.  Perhaps I should post
reviews of some books about lemurs.  That is, if I can find any.

>                                  Rachel Meredith Kadel
>
>There's an infinite number of monkeys at the door wanting to show us the 
>script to Hamlet they've worked out...The school won't even LISTEN to me 
>, much less let me speak for it...rachel@phsbbs.princeton.nj.us


Notice how it's never "an infinite number of lemurs"?  Always monkeys.  
Xref: sparky alt.fan.lemurs:257 rec.arts.books:23114