(urth) This week in Google alerts
Lee Berman
severiansola at hotmail.com
Sat Nov 5 08:07:15 PDT 2011
> You're right that no knowledge of obscure fauns is "needed." Full
> understanding of exactly how Wolfe composes and constructs his
> stories is not "needed."
>Antonio Pedro Marques:
>This ties in with a point I never see made but I think is quite
>important. People strive to find 'logical', 'scientific' explanations
>for everything, and when they find them, or think they did, 'that's
>it'. Well, sorry, no. It may usually be it, but, scientifically
>speaking, maximum likelihood and certainty aren't the same thing.
I agree, it is an important point. And especially in regard to the
work of Gene Wolfe. Considering his biography, he is a man who spent
his pre-writing years surrounded by engineers and mechanics who likely
applied their professional leanings toward their understanding of the
world.
I can imagine many coffee break conversations over the years in which
Wolfe was faced with material/scientific explanations of the world which
conclude with, "and that's it. Nothing else is needed".
The core of some of the debates in here mirrors the debate between the
man of faith and the atheist. The argument always boils down to:
"you are missing something" vs. "you are imagining things".
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