(urth) Padding?
Son of Witz
Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org
Tue Nov 30 12:01:42 PST 2010
I think all that is very apt, Brewer.
And as I wrestle with each sentance of this book, I ultimately find the stories rewarding.
Just last friday night, I came home from work to an empty house, my family out of town becaude they had the day off when I didn't. Suddenly Halvard's story, which I previously had no use for, became very relevant. What a monster I would be without my family to keep me on the path.
As Ava says:
"Like the man your friend talked about, most men think they make their homes for their families, but the fact is that they make both homes and families for themselves.”
~witz
On Nov 30, 2010, at 10:02 AM, Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com> wrote:
> It seems like there are different ways to take it.
>
> When I first read it, I thought, "And here's Wolfe deciding to be 'literary.'
> Let's stop the 'quest-adventure' and do some thematic ruminating!"
>
> After I got more interested in the world of Urth, it seemed like perfectly
> appropriate "world building" stuff. It was almost generically appropriate.
>
> Then, even later, when I was interested in the cultural/religious aspects of
> Urth, it seemed like a series of interesting philosophical digressions.
>
> Looking back now, it was probably Wolfe doing some of all of that. It seems
> perfectly appropriate that the original STORY could have done without it. And my
> bet is that when Wolfe was originally writing the thing, he was thinking
> primarily as a professional genre writer would: I have my story, and now I have
> to add to it because my editor/publisher wants more. I don't want to screw up
> the plot I've laid out, so how can I add to this appropriately in a way that
> won't require all kinds of plot-level restructuring?
>
> So it probably was padding, in terms of word count. But a good writer will still
> make padding add to the overall work, which I think this does. It certainly
> interrupts the "forward movement" of the story (and maybe we can fault it for
> that...Wolfe even seems to, and I can understand how the "storyteller" in him
> might be a bit irritated with those passages), but it still contributes to Urth.
> I wouldn't want to do without it, myself, just as I wouldn't want to do without
> any of the other Brown Book stories (and still want more!).
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Son of Witz <Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
> Sent: Tue, November 30, 2010 11:31:54 AM
> Subject: Re: (urth) Padding?
>
> Wait, Isn't the storytelling contest in the fourth book, in the Lazaret?
> I feel that stuff is obliquely relevant, but mostly padding. I can barely stand
> that contest in the Lazaret.
>
> ~Mike
>
> On Nov 30, 2010, at 3:16 AM, Mo Holkar <lists at ukg.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> One of Wolfe's comments in the Cooney interview, linked here recently, caught
>> my eye. Re BotNS:
>>
>> "If you look in the third book, you will find a storytelling contest that’s
>> strictly padding. That contest got me a really good review in Playboy Magazine –
>> and I’ve always been grateful to it for that reason."
>>
>> I have always seen the storytelling contest as narratively and thematically
>> important. We step back from the main action, and get a succession of insights
>> into the metaphysics of the characters' world. We then read on with somewhat
>> renewed eyes.
>>
>> I guess we can continue to believe that Wolfe is being a little disingenuous
>> when he says it's "strictly" padding. But it is slightly sobering to reflect
>> that if BotNS had remained a trilogy, it wouldn't have been included.
>>
>> Although perhaps you may feel that this is post hoc reasoning, and really it is
>> indeed padding that we could have done happily without?
>>
>> best wishes,
>>
>> Mo
>>
>>
>> # ~ # ~ #
>>
>> WolfeWiki -- a wiki about Gene Wolfe
>> http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/
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