(urth) Wolfe being clear on 5HoC

[b sharp]

I can't say I strongly disagree with what Dan'l and Tony recently posted but 
for the sake of argument I'll address a couple things (at the risk of 
straying too far from Wolfe, sorry Ranjit!;-) )

Dan'l writes:

>I don't believe that the words are "sacred" or anything. A text is a made 
>thing. But I also quite >firmly believe that a text is what it is, rather 
>than what its writer may have wanted it to be, or >indeed may believe it to 
>be. Indeed, my own experience with texts I have written have shown >me that 
>the writer may be quite unaware of what a text actually is.

This recognizes that an author may include unintended meanings in writing 
text but ignores that the meaning must be found by a reader.  Each 
individual reader will find unique meaning in the text.  Several individuals 
or even most of them might agree on that meaning but to say "text is what it 
is" seems to suggest there is some universal truth to be found in ink dots.  
I hold that text and in fact all art means nothing outside the synergy of 
understanding between artist and each individual audience member. Take that 
away and you have only processed wood pulp, colored liquids, sound waves, 
carved minerals, etc.  Text is what the author and the readers make it, 
right?

Tony writes:

>But, Wolfe isn't just writing works of art. He's also writing stories with 
>lots of mysteries and puzzles >in them, which we are intended to solve, and 
>a lot of our time on the list is spent trying to do so. >And in this case I 
>do believe that our solutions to these puzzles should come from the story 
>itself. >Not because the words are in some way sanctified, but simply 
>because that's where Wolfe has put >the clues.

I agree about the puzzles, but are you suggesting the puzzles are completely 
internal?  That an extremely intelligent reader could read BotNS as a first 
book and solve all the mysteries with no other sources? That there is no 
need of familiarity with the Bible, with Greek mythology, with Campbell's 
Hero With A Thousand Faces, etc. etc.?  I'm guessing not....

Lacking "at a glance" brilliance, I admit to having a bulldog mentality when 
it comes to puzzles.   I'm generally unhappy with loose ends and ambiguity 
(no I do NOT like Waiting for Godot, :-)) ).  So I draw no lines on what is 
fair game in solving these puzzles, including other people's ideas and Gene 
Wolfe interviews.  If a clever interviewer gets him to spill too many beans, 
well...only fair since for over 30 years Gene Wolfe has clearly had the 
upper hand.

-bsharp