(urth) Severian / Christ / Logos / Apocatastasis

[Craig Brewer]

Modernism is an apt characterization of Wolfe at times. I know I've often called him sf's closest analogue to "High Modernism" when introducing him to literary types.

I think it works best when talking about Wolfe's style. An emphasis on individual perspective and alternatives to traditional narrative forms works well for him.

But in terms of theme and substance, it's hard to line Wolfe up with the existentialist, or at least individualist, strain of so much modernist work. _The Wasteland_ would look very different if Wolfe had written it.

Of course all of that depends on the definition of modernism you're working with, and definitions of modernism are like opinions are like assholes...

And, Witz, I think modernism need not equal postmodernism. Postmodernism is usually out and out relativism of one brand or another. I often think of modernism as having a general predisposition akin to existentialism: i.e., the universe may be mere chaos, but the individual can still create stable meaning. For a postmodernist, even the individual is just a product of other random forces, not a true controlling subject.

But enough philosophy...I want to talk about giants and magic gems and dudes wearing all black...



----- Original Message ----
From: Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 4:59:36 PM
Subject: Re: (urth) Severian / Christ / Logos / Apocatastasis


>I don'y have the time or the expertise to argue it, but I think Wolfe is a
>bog-standard modernist.  _BotNS_ is his _Ulysses_, filled up with things to
>keep readers busy for the next hundred years.  And like Joyce, he has
>sometimes had to let out a few hints for the dense -- you may recall that
>_Ulysses_ didn't originally have chapter titles.
>
>Unlike Blish, I can't remember any direct allusions to Joyce in Wolfe's
>writings, though he channels everyone else ;).
>
>David Duffy.


Is playing a modern game the same as embracing the tenents of postmodernism?
One can utilize the insights of a field without really embracing it's (lack of) belief system.  Is playing with pagan myths the same as being Pagan?

Regarding Joyce, Yowza, was this knucklehead up a creek without a paddle when I tried to read Ulysses.  someday maybe.  
the closest I've got to enjoying Joyce is an excerpt of Finnegan's Wake, put to Quasi-Death Metal by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, called The Helpless Corpse Enactment. The video they made for it, here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELyco68w5ks
is supposedly a 4 minute reenactment of Finnegan's Wake

(perhaps inspiration fodder for Wolfe-Inspired Musicians)

~witz


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