(urth) Religious writers and audiences

[Craig Brewer]

So recent discussions have me thinking about a book that's a couple of years old new, but on topic: _The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia_ by Laura Miller. Basically: young girl loves Narnia, clueless about the religious aspect. Grows up, eyes open, feels betrayed by the allegory. Gets even older, comes to terms with loving a book that she does not at all "believe."

But it brings to mind two questions about Wolfe:
1) In what sense do people feel that his books are "allegorical" (even in the loosest sense) of his (or any) religious views? I take it here that allegorical means more than being informed-by-religion and actually instructive-of or apologetic-for a certain theology, as Lewis apparently wanted Narnia to be?
2) How do his non-Catholic readers react to the overt theologizing and moralizing that is obviously there at times? (This would go for even Catholic readers who might find something non-orthodox.)

I know my views aren't shared by everyone on the list, but I'm skeptical of the idea that Wolfe is always or even primarily interested in writing his own beliefs into his books in any overall consistent way. He seems more to be experimenting with ideas rather than working out a consistent theology, as it were.

But even when he's doing something obvious, like the Severian-as-proto-Christian angle, I find myself fascinated although I'm not particularly Christian (or particularly anything). I've had other friends, particularly the a-religious type, who can't get past the feeling that he's preaching to them to the "what-if" attitude in which I read him.

But I was curious about any variety of views we have on the list.



________________________________
From: John Watkins <john.watkins04 at gmail.com>
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Sent: Sat, June 5, 2010 12:17:31 PM
Subject: Re: (urth) traveling north

And Tolkien would weep a silent tear to see his work called "allegorical."


On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 12:59 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com> wrote:
>
>> It's my understanding that was how it started with he drawing distant time
>>> and CS Lewis drawing distant space, but as it took on a life of its own it
>> became increasingly allegorical and less literally our world. Though with
>> events like the Bending of the Roads, pretty much any discrepancies can be
>>> explained away.
>
>No; Middle-earth (or, more properly, Arda) goes back to long before
>his famous "bargain" with Lewis. He began writing what would become
>_The Silmarillion_ during WWI.
>
>>The product of the "bargain" was never completed.
>
>
>--
>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
> 
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