Travelling novel -- The Philosopher's Pupil again. Sometimes, an author can have a hidden conceit or game that ends up giving the novel structure, and the novel can be read on its own terms, without knowledge of the 'Inside Baseball' stories. But I thin, for this one you do have to know the gossip, or at least the story that was put into the mix as gossip. When you see that, and know the relationship, everything sort of falls into place. Conversely, once that reticulated, purposive structure appears, everything could equally be dismissed as just a bit of gossip. Not a rack behind.
