By they themselves

Question

Hi,

What does "any by they themselves" mean in the sentence below?

Then the stories of the wounded storytellers unfold smoothly, as mesmerizing as any by they themselves, those squinting, wheezing, infected, demented, defective yet superlative examples of the human condition.

KJinCali79 · Accepted Answer

This is a confusing sentence, written in a rather literary fashion.

"Any" refers to stories of any kind ever heard
"They themselves" is an emphatic pronoun referring to the wounded storytellers. This is used, perhaps, to emphasize the first-hand account and in order to lead into the descriptive phrase that follows since "those" also refers to the storytellers and the adjectives that follow describe their condition.

I take it to mean, something like this:

Then the stories of the wounded storytellers unfold smoothly, as mesmerizing as any (stories could possibly be), by they themselves (the wounded storytellers, who are) squinting, wheezing, infected, demented, defective, yet superlative examples of the human condition.

As a note:
A pronoun is a reflexive one if the action of the subject reflects upon the doer. Emphatic pronouns, on the other hand, are used to just emphasize the action of the subject.
1. He cut himself. (Reflexive: here the subject and object refer to the same person.)
2. He himself cut the cake. (Emphatic: here the emphatic pronoun himself merely puts emphasis on the noun he.)
1. I spoke to the principal myself. (Emphatic)
2. You must blame yourself for the loss. (Reflexive)

By they themselves

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