(urth) fairy stories, was: Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?

[David Stockhoff]

He wrote a couple of Dunsany pastiches---one about Man and the Computer, 
more or less. I don;t know what Wolfe has said about him, though.

On 12/15/2011 10:25 PM, Craig Brewer wrote:
> <Deliberately ignoring the public snark-fest...>
>
> Has Wolfe ever spoken at length about Lord Dunsany? I can think of a 
> few mentions, but nothing significant. That might be an interesting 
> way into the question of "fairy stories."
>
> (And, yes, I asked a question without searching urth.net...mainly to 
> shift the conversation.)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
> *To:* urth at urth.net
> *Sent:* Thursday, December 15, 2011 9:21 PM
> *Subject:* (urth) Gummed-Up Works or Got Lives?
>
>
>
> >Dan'l Danehy-oakes: tBotNS is indeed a fairy story, a 
> once-upon-a-time whisking away of
> >the reader to a land where miracles happen, giants..battle heroes, 
> the dead walk, and
>
> >monarchs live in invisible palaces. (Even the invisible palace hides 
> an invisible
> >palace!)
>
>
>
> >If it questions the assumptions of the fairy story, and especially 
> the happy ending, well
>
> >so too does it question the assumptions of classic science fantasy: 
> and we cannot
>
> >understand that questioning unless we understand "what we have 
> learned of these things
> >from fairy-tales."
>
>
>
> Wow, Dan'l. Outstanding post, both for content and eloquence.
>
>
>
> Also, I agree with all you say about Tolkien and Lewis and Wolfe in 
> your earlier post. I
>
> might only debate one issue, that being the implication that Tolkein's 
> moral lessons are
>
> not explicit. I would agree with you in regard to religious morality.
>
>
>
> But there is a social-cultural morality Tolkien displays which I find 
> not so very hard to
>
> catch, including the intrinsic value of hearth and home and the 
> unquestioned assumption
>
> that blood (genetics) runs true and determines the worth of a man. Not 
> a shocking moral
>
> stance for an Englishman of the early 20th century but still, it is there.
>
>
>
> I think, by todays standards, Tolkien's geo-social biases might not be 
> considered so
>
> policially correct. I mostly mean his implication that those 
> dark-skinned types from the
>
> south and east are evil and not to be trusted. Conversely that north 
> and west are the "good"
>
> directions, not to mention those wonderful (american) eagles who 
> always fly in at the last
>
> crucial moment to save the day. If he'd used falcons it just wouldn't 
> have worked the same,
>
> I think. (not that I'm being really critical of Tolkien; I"m sure he 
> was a good and honorable
>
> man but also a product of his times. And aren't we all?)
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