(urth) One Good Book
Chris
rasputin_ at hotmail.com
Thu Dec 2 00:14:58 PST 2004
I've read Borski's book. He did some very good work with it, but it's hard
not to be frustrated with it - especially if you don't agree with his
interpretations. And a good portion of the time, I didn't. That said, he
brings up all sorts of references in the books that often you won't even
remember... and he cites them, which provides a great prod for the reader to
go back and re-read that section of BotNS, which is always worthwhile.
So I'm somewhat torn: I think Borski's work should be supported, and I
respect the work he's done, but on the other hand I have a hard time
recommending it to read for its own sake. I guess what I'd suggest is that
you should buy it if you are planning on re-reading BotNS, and you can use
Borski's book as you go.
>But first, Dan'l. I think you are right and if I was (and I was) obtuse,
>it was my fault and was a result of the orgiastic rush to present the ideas
>I had been sitting on for about two years. Maybe I can clarify my point
>better if I say that I believe Christianity to be a phenomenon that does
>not escape the bounds of history. So many things in human culture (like,
>for instance, "humanism") cannot be explained outside of the actual
>processes they exhibit. This, of course, is part of my general critique of
>the idea of transcendence. To put it simply: if a thing is transcendent we
>cannot know it. If we know it has become immanent and thus has become part
>of the "world" which implies partiality, prejudice (in Gadamer's sense),
>limitation, and, finally, definition in terms of the world. Even if there
>is a God that at one time existed outside of the cosmos, the fact that we
>can even speculate on it means that he must have joined the cosmos.
>Anyway, to stay on point, Wolfe may accept the idea of transcendence but
>that doesn't mean that it is justified. No one can truly be "christian" in
>the sense that "Christianity" implies unworldliness-- which cannot be
>expressed (or known, I would argue). I appreciate your comments,
>especially since they helped me to clarify myself.
>
>And now, about the One Good Book. For Wolfe, I think that tBotNS is the
>framework from which he ironed out the other two series'. As I said in my
>other email, I interpret that novel (I will call the whole thing one novel,
>since you did and I agree wholeheartedly) as a mythos toward gnosis and
>restoration (which become one and the same-- salvation through knowledge,
>the ultimate heresy in early Christianity). The succeeding two novels
>emphasize different aspects of the ascent-- like epicycles traveling around
>their original. The Book of the Long Sun is, I believe, a meditation on
>the specific moment of knowing ("Patera Silk received enlightenment on the
>ballcourt: nothing could ever be the same"), while the Book of the Short
>Sun is concerned with the struggle to conform oneself with the knowledge
>gained. The Book of the Short Sun is also the most personal thing of
>Wolfe's I've read since it concerns the struggle of a regular man to
>conform himself to an impossible ideal (the ideal held in his book, though
>not necessarily in Calde Silke). God, while obviously the idea to which
>all the heroes aspire, also remains curiously distant. He remains always
>the outsider (see above re transcendence). I think that the Book of the
>New Sun is definately Wolfe's one commanding book. But, I like the Book of
>the Long Sun better than any fantasy/sci fi. I've read that's not Wolfe,
>Tokien, or Lewis, and I think that The Book of the Short Sun is utterly
>fantastic (I am still reading Return To the Whorl, and that is impressing
>me more than the other books in the series). Also, we cannot forget about
>"Fifth Head of Cerberus."
>
>I agree with you on Joyce. For Chesterton, probably "The Man who was
>Thursday." Tolkien, yadda. Lewis, any one of the Chronicles of Narnia or
>"Out of the Silent Planet" (not a fan of the other two space novels at
>all). Proust, yadda. Borges "Ficciones." And it goes on.
>
>This is great stuff. Has anyone read Borski's book yet? I think I might
>buy it for myself for Christmas.
>
>Dei, sive natura, give you good rest.
>
>eric
>
>
>
>A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes.
>
>-- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
>
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