(urth) (no subject)

[Craig Brewer]

So, Witz, are you saying that, fundamentally, you don't think that BotNS is 
fiction? I mean, sure the story's made up, but are you saying that you find 
BotNS to actually be a working-out of an actual theory-of-the-world/cosmos?

I ask because that seems to be a point that comes up among fans of Wolfe a lot 
of times. (Hi, there, brunians, if you're still listening.) It seems like 
there's definitely a tendency among some Wolfe readers to see him working out a 
*real* cosmology at some level rather than just writing speculative fiction. 
(Maybe David's PKD/Valis reference was prescient on this point, speaking of a 
dude who believed his own sci-f...uh...SF. heh) It's just very different from 
how I read him: writing speculative fictions that play with different, even 
contradictory ideas, rather than developing a consistent cosmology.

I would be curious if you could find that interview quote. I recall a number of 
times where Wolfe has mentioned in interviews that the world is stranger than we 
might think, but I haven't actually seen a place where he crosses the line of 
saying "this aspect of 'genre' writing/thinking is just plain realism." It 
usually seems to me that he's much more cagey about such issues in a way that 
leaves possibilities open rather than explicitly stating his belief in a set of 
particular ideas. (Even in interviews where he talks about his religion, he'll 
say things like "I'm Catholic, but that may not mean what you think it means.")




----- Original Message ----
From: Son of Witz <Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Wed, December 15, 2010 5:44:19 PM
Subject: Re: (urth) (no subject)



Why create a fictional universe if it is fundamentally the same as our own?
Well, are you sure that our universe is cyclically recreated in the same pattern 
again and again?
Are you sure that we shaped a race of beings that in turn shapes us?
I'm not sure, but I think it's probably true.

Anyway, I don't have the quote, but somewhere Wolfe said something to the idea 
that he wrote New Sun to explore the ramifications of his beliefs.
Personally, I think he attempted to reconcile his convert-Catholic belief in 
Christ with his beliefs in other worlds, ideas about cyclicality of reality and 
temporal causality, belief in powers higher than humanity, his revolt against 
the modern world, and perhaps a belief that extra terrestrials helped shape 
humanity, along with a hope that our fallen creation can be saved, even if it 
means another flood to wipe out corrupt humanity.  Just guessing, but that seems 
very much like what he's given us.
~Witz

On Dec 15, 2010, at 3:23 PM, David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote:

> Yes, exactly. I meant "sci-fi," with the scare quotes.
> 
> Do you prefer "sf"?
> 
> The question is the same. Why create a "cyclical iterations of the same 
>creation that keeps playing out in more or less the same pattern" fictional 
>universe if it's fundamentally the same as ours?
> 
> On 12/15/2010 4:50 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 1:46 PM, DAVID STOCKHOFF <dstockhoff at verizon.net 
>><mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net>> wrote:
>> 
>>    I mean "similar," i.e., identical except for key differences. That
>>    is, in the usual sci-fi sense that most people understand.
>> 
>> 
>> H'mmm. Well, I would have said that the usual science-fictional sense of 
>>"parallel universes" includes the idea that they are in some sense moving along 
>>in time next to ours. The "mirror universe" in Star Trek is a classic example.
>> 
>> Also, please refrain (note that I am asking politely) from using the term 
>>"sci-fi." Some find it very offensive.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
>> 
> 
> 
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