(urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

Lee Berman wrote:

> But in SF/Fantasy and most especially in the work of Gene Wolfe, metaphors take on a
> much greater dose of reality than they do in fiction of the real world.

Yes. Delany suggests that one of the discursive powers of SF is to
literalize metaphors -- i.e., "her world exploded," which would be a
muzzy metaphor in mimetic fiction, in SF might well mean that a planet
belonging to someone blowed up real good. This literalization, he
suggests, simultaneously closes a space for discussion of
subjective/psychological topics and opens one for
objective/physical/economic topics.

SF also allows possible literal meanings impossible in MF: Delany
suggests, for example, "He turned on his left side." A restless
sleeper? Or, in SF, did someone throw a switch?

So, yes, there is _something_ going on with the trees and lianas and
Neighbors and Inhumi, and it's _probably_ something more (or at least
"other") than a metaphor. I'm still not sold on the "Neighbors are
Trees" theory or the "Horn died in the pit and a Neighbor replaced
him" theory, but there's sure something going on here.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes