WHY does the Sigley phenomenon matter? Essentially it raises again one of the finer questions about existence. How, and on what different levels, can we be said to exist? And, to tease it further, can we be said to exist on more than one level simultaneously?

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For something said to exist in the "real world", we expect to apprehend it through one or more of our five senses. But it can also be said to exist, differently of course, in the realm of the imagination where the senses have no place, or within a work of fiction.

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Those contemporary novels that are based on extensive historical research, including the biographies of previously living people, frequently enable those individuals to utter words we presume they never actually spoke during their lifetimes. On the pages of the novel they can be made to interact with entirely fictional characters whom they could not conceivably have encountered in real life.

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Here another taxing question arises. How can a person who once lived and whose biography is now necessarily complete, be caused to do things they could not possibly have done? Some writers jump nimbly off that hook by saying that, despite all the known details of their lives, we can't possibly know every single detail of what they said or did. True enough. But we do know with a good deal of certainty that no one who lives in "the real world" can interact in that world with someone who is fictional.

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In our culture we value the primacy of the written or printed word above practically everything else when seeking valid evidence for what has taken place. My word may be my bond but experience suggests that we prefer it in writing. This puts the JP Sigley correspondence archive at the very heart of the discussion. The letters he wrote to his local West Norfolk newspaper, the Lynn News, during the final twenty years of his life definitely do exist, as surely as anything can be said to exist. Diligent sceptics may consult that newspaper's back numbers for authentication. The complete documentation is also held by Salopianeditions, here and now in "the real world".

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But how far did their author himself ever exist in it? Or do we find ourselves in that challenging post-modern area where factual and fictional levels are merged? Could an entirely fictional character (if that is what he is) write and have his letters published in a "real life" newspaper outside and beyond any work of fiction?

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Ultimately this sensitive issue is best left to Sigley's readers themselves. You will form a view if you think it necessary. Many do not. For them, the arguably dubious interweaving of real and imagined worlds is a side issue compared to gaining a fascinating insight into the later life and thoughts of a somewhat unusual man.

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The letters and commentary upon them appear here in seven sections. With a single exception, Sigley's letters are given in their entirety, exactly as published. When other correspondents have stimulated further discussion, their contributions are treated in extracts, paraphrase or summary. As you will see, there is even genuine doubt as to whether some of them have ever actually existed. Thus is the conundrum compounded.

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