From cbmvax!uunet!CUVMB.BITNET!LOJBAN Mon Jun 29 13:56:29 1992 Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Mon, 29 Jun 92 13:56 EDT Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA19918; Mon, 29 Jun 92 13:07:01 EDT Received: from pucc.Princeton.EDU by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA28471; Mon, 29 Jun 92 12:36:11 -0400 Message-Id: <9206291636.AA28471@relay1.UU.NET> Received: from PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU by pucc.Princeton.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 6363; Mon, 29 Jun 92 12:35:36 EDT Received: by PUCC (Mailer R2.08 ptf033) id 5982; Mon, 29 Jun 92 12:32:03 EDT Date: Mon, 29 Jun 1992 11:55:09 -0400 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: a new Lojban project - for all of you X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann Status: RO X-Status: This LogFest was a fun gathering, and not one for work. Nothing really accomplished except to teach people a bit more of the language, use it a little, and socialize, learning more about each other. One topic of discussion was how to get more people doing something with the language. The topic segued into literature, original Lojban literature. One long thought about idea that was rediscussed was an interactive role playing project of the type often conducted at science fiction conventions, based on a Lojban-related scenario. Learning a little Lojban would give actor/players of the scenario an advantage. But a better idea surfaced, one that can get more involved. The geminal start of English as a literary language was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and someone mentioned that Italian has a similar medieval literary landmark, the Decameron. Perhaps other languages as well. The essence of the Canterbury Tales is that they are a bunch of 1st person tales, rich and colorful, often baudy. Why not write something similar for Lojban, or at least start to do so. We can get a lot of people involved, who need only commit to writing a single short tale - a page long would be fine. A couple of the more expert Lojbanists - Nick, Ivan, and Mark, for example, might do some longer tales, perhaps about characters that might have a more complex story. One charm of the Canterbury Tales is the variety of personalities of the characters - we can achieve that by having many authors. Stylistic consistency isn't necessary, since different people have different ways of talking. If you are relatively unskilled, you might want to choose a less-well educated character, but even this might not be a constraint. The question is how to devise a scenario around which people can write these short-short stories. Canterbury Tales takes place where travellers gather - an inn or bar. Do we tell tales of the people of mythical Lojbanistan? Or do we presume a modern or postmodern society, with people much like the spectrum found in the world today? One possibility proposed would be people on a space station, thus appealing to the SF fans among us - an international space station, wherein people like Ivan and Nick can bring in tales from other cultures. Some could be tales of earth, while others could be high adventure in space. At this point, I turn the floor over to all of you. We need a coordinator to keep track of who is working on tales, but that person need do little more. We may eventually need an editor to clean up Lojban errors, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. One rule - if you have a specific story idea, whether you want to write it o or not: don't talk about it in English. The stories are to be LOJBAN stories, and whatever appeal they have, as the first Lojban literature, will be emphasized by their not existing in English first. If you have trouble with the language, you can ask how-to-say-it questions here on Lojban List, or send messages provately to Nick, Ivan, Colin, John Cowan, Mark Shoulson, or me (not in any particular order except that I'd prefer only to handle things that others draw a blank on, and probably John would as well - we're in full scale book preparation mode, both of us, as of today). Less experienced Lojbanists might team up on a story, in which case you can talk privately with each other in whatever language about your story, or if necessary, with the one experienced Lojbanist that you interact with from the above list. Hmm. Veijo, I think your culture has a similar tradition as well, though I know nothing much about the Kalevala. Does it suggest any further ideas? What do people think, and who volunteers to try to write something? lojbab