(urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned byRudesind

[Mr Thalassocrat]

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 11:41 AM, Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:

<sensible stuff>

+1.

Another +1 for Antonio's standard, which I phrase as: does a proposed story
enhance the overall story, or not? I enjoy Wolfe because he is not just a
creator of "puzzle boxes". Rather, he creates opportunities for discovering
and constructing within the white space stories which enrich the
narrative-as-told. Not in some cheap hermaneutic, "hidden meaning",
explanation-of-everything, whatever, sense; but in the sense of enriching
one's sense of the characters, their motivations, their possibilities etc
etc.

Sometimes I don't think he pulls it off: eg "An Evil Guest". I just can't
find a story-enhancement reward for the effort of trying to work out the
white space, in that one.

Another eg: Sev's family. The text seems to have all kinds of hints inviting
us to try to figure out his family tree, but I think there is neither enough
information nor enough story-potential to do anything with this except drive
oneself bat-shit crazy.
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