In a message dated 99-07-11 05:09:11 EDT, you write: << In my uncollected stories collection, I place Elaine in with his other 2 "women" stories, Go See Eddie & The Long Debut of Lois Tagget. Much like his early Holden & Seymour attempts, these seem to me to be pretty much the same woman, with differing enlightenments due to their circumstances. Y'know what I mean? >> I just don't see it. I don't think their differing enlightenments had anything to do with their circumstances. I'm not sure one could necessarily blame the fact that Elaine had the mental age of a child, on the fact that she saw too many movies, or her adult role models were less than appropiate. Plus, though all girls listed above are said to have been pretty, they were all described in different ways. In Go See Eddie she is glamourous. In Lois Taggert she is stylish. But only Elaine had the kind of beauty that was worth mentioning multiple times, and was, in fact, a partial basis of the story. (A "Rapunzel", if you will). In truth, I have difficulty finding any striking similarities between the three girls. What do you see? Leila