(urth) OT: Anathem

Lane Haygood lhaygood at gmail.com
Mon Sep 15 21:26:15 PDT 2008


Next thing you'll tell me that you think Dostoevsky was a hack and  
Capek is overrated! :)

Lane

On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:25 PM, brunians at brunians.org wrote:

> I've had other people say similar things to me, but I don't see it  
> as all
> *that* good. But then I don't really like either Pynchon or Gibson  
> either.
>
>
>
> .
>
>
>
>> I haven't read the Baroque cycle be Stephenson, but "Snow Crash"
>> continues to top my list of favorites.  It's like Thomas Pynchon and
>> William Gibson had a baby.
>>
>> Terry Brooks writes terribly juvenile fiction, which is when I read
>> the entire Shannara series (or at least, the series as it existed in
>> the 1990s).  I picked up "Running with the Demon" and its sequels,  
>> and
>> actually enjoyed them.  Brooks plays with more mature subject matter
>> and breaks out of the Standard Epic Fantasy story mold, which is
>> nice.  Though I hear with his latest books he is attempting to tie
>> these books to the Shannara series, which has kind of ruined it for  
>> me.
>>
>> Lane
>>
>> On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:03 PM, brunians at brunians.org wrote:
>>
>>> I hope not: 'Snow Crash' wasn't that bad.
>>>
>>> I have no idea if Brooks is good or bad apart from Shannara: the one
>>> Shannara book I read traumatized me so badly that I am unlikely to
>>> risk
>>> exposure to another of his books.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> .
>>>
>>>
>>>> Let's be fair... is Stephenson really capable of something along  
>>>> the
>>>> lines of the Shannara series?
>>>>
>>>> (In Terry Brooks' defense, his "Running with the Demon" series was
>>>> pretty good.  Once he stepped away from epic fantasy he's not a
>>>> terrible writer.)
>>>>
>>>> Lane
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 15, 2008, at 8:56 PM, brunians at brunians.org wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It looks like Stephenson has done a 'Sword Of Shannara' on TBOTNS.
>>>>>
>>>>> What a maroon!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> .
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> is it really totally OK to write a fantasy book about a future
>>>>>> version of
>>>>>> our planet and call it "Orth"?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 2:40 PM, Matthew Groves
>>>>>> <matthewalangroves at gmail.com
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mostly I agree with Dirda; however I think I like it  
>>>>>>> considerably
>>>>>>> better
>>>>>>> than he does.  I admire and approve of Stephenson's project.  I
>>>>>>> suspect
>>>>>>> Stephenson really was thinking about the Harry Potter crowd when
>>>>>>> he
>>>>>>> wrote
>>>>>>> this -- some of whom would be approaching the age of the
>>>>>>> protagonist,
>>>>>>> Fraa
>>>>>>> Erasmus, and his friends.  I may be reading too much into the
>>>>>>> novel, but
>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>> am convinced that Stephenson was presenting his science-and-math
>>>>>>> monastery
>>>>>>> (the Mynster) is a counterpoint to the Hogwarts "school for
>>>>>>> wizards,"
>>>>>>> replacing the realm of wish-fulfillment fantasy with the realm  
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> abstract
>>>>>>> theories and ideas.  (The novel seems to be geared toward a  
>>>>>>> just-
>>>>>>> post-YA
>>>>>>> age
>>>>>>> group who were thrilled by the steadily increasing page counts  
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> Harry
>>>>>>> Potter sequels and thus won't be scared off by this 900+ page
>>>>>>> monster.)
>>>>>>> Stephenson is trying to uplift the Harry Potter crowd with a  
>>>>>>> taste
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> philosophy and science, and offering some positive alternatives
>>>>>>> to the consumer-driven, intellectually barren,
>>>>>>> fundamentalism-spawning culture they've grown up in.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Unfortunately, he's going to lose many of those Harry Potter
>>>>>>> readers (as
>>>>>>> he
>>>>>>> nearly lost me), most likely between pp. 12 and 23, in a long
>>>>>>> description of
>>>>>>> the Mynster that far outlasts any curiosity you may have  
>>>>>>> developed
>>>>>>> about
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> place by this point.  It was while slogging through these pages
>>>>>>> that I
>>>>>>> kept
>>>>>>> thinking about how Wolfe introduces us to Severian's world and
>>>>>>> implies
>>>>>>> all
>>>>>>> sorts of fantastic things about it without interrupting the
>>>>>>> story to
>>>>>>> take us
>>>>>>> on a walking tour of the citadel and the Matachin Tower,  
>>>>>>> pointing
>>>>>>> out
>>>>>>> details left and right.  But that's just the kind of thing
>>>>>>> Stephenson
>>>>>>> does
>>>>>>> at several points in *Anathem*, and whereas Wolfe's details are
>>>>>>> integral
>>>>>>> to the story, Stephenson's are mostly just flavor.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But once I forgave Stephenson for not transcending popular  
>>>>>>> fiction
>>>>>>> with
>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>> new *Book of the New Sun*, I started to enjoy *Anathem*.  I have
>>>>>>> more to
>>>>>>> say about the book, but I'm curious about others' reactions to
>>>>>>> Anathem.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 10:41 AM, Matthew Keeley <
>>>>>>> matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Anyone read Michael Dirda's review of Anathem in The Washington
>>>>>>>> Post?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402460.html
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Dirda compares Anathem with The Book of the New Sun, which he
>>>>>>>> says is
>>>>>>>> much
>>>>>>>> superior.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -Matt
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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