(urth) Bringin' it back to Wolfe by the long road

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes danldo at gmail.com
Tue Apr 17 08:43:32 PDT 2007


On 4/17/07, Andy Robertson <andywrobertson at clara.co.uk> wrote:
> Not realy.   Michael here is not precisely a Christian figure in a christian
> universe: rather he's a being of a certain rank, in a non-Christian
> universe, who is explained/derived in terms of Christan myth much as the
> Overcyns are explained/derived in terms of Nordic myth.   He is of higher
> rank than Odin but other beings of non-Christian derivation like Parka are
> of higher rank than him,. There is no Christ in Mythgarthyr - the Outsider
> was far more explicitly Christian in his function and relationship to
> humanity.

I must disagree. This *is* a Christian universe -- or, rather, a Universe
created by the Christian God. Much of Wolfe's work involves what I
suppose you could call "baptising" non-Christian (or, in the case of
_Long Sun_, Christian-but-heretical) worldviews, embedding them into
a more-or-less explicitly Christian context.

_Long Sun_, as I have argued at length elsewhere, is a quite overt
baptism of a Gnostic (specifically, Valentinian) creation, embedding
the Whorl, a creation fo the evil Demiurge (Pas), _into_ the "real"
creation of Christian belief.  The "Latro" books seem to baptize the
gods of Greece, Egypt, and the ancient Middle-east, portraying them
as creations of the one God, more powerful than humans but still
creatures. And WK seems to baptize the "worlds" of the Eddas.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations,
inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food. Tire
salons, automobile dealerships and wonderful, wonderful billboards
reaching as far as the eye can see. My God, it'll be beautiful.



More information about the Urth mailing list