(urth) The Sorcerer's House Questions (*Major Spoilers*)

[James Wynn]

>So maybe the question with Bax is whether or not his ability to tell a wonderful,
>compelling, puzzling story (which is, of course, also Wolfe's talent) is innocent or
>dangerous? From that angle, it seems like one of the "big issues" with TSH is the
>relationship between fantasy and dishonesty. That seems like a perfectly appropriate
>theme for a writer who has always maintained that fantasy is one of the best ways to
>deal with the "really real" -- why shouldn't he write a story that explicitly explores the
>other side of that coin?

I just think the story is lame if the whole thing is a fabrication of
Bax's, because --after all-- it already IS a fabrication by Wolfe. It
would be like saying everything in the Latro novels was a product of
Latro's deranged state due to his wound. It makes trying to understand
the "contrived" story to be moot, because any inconsistencies can be
marked up to shoddy story-telling. We're already facing the problems
of possible plot-holes anyway. If we treat the story as a work by Bax
instead of Wolfe, what is the value of that? Shall we investigate the
quality of Bax's novel instead? I certainly hope this is not true. I'm
not re-reading it as though this is the case, because I don't think
I'm up to analyzing two novels at once.

J.