(urth) silk, the dancing toy, gods in the tunnels

[Marc Aramini]

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From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
To: "urth at urth.net" <urth at urth.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 10:58 AM
In addition to what has already been posted about dogs as gods, I tend to 
take a meta-interpretation of it in addition to the other suggestions.

Many agree that Wolfe inserts dogs and wolves throughout his stories as a
sort of self-reference.  Perhaps these dogs as gods is a reference to his
own status as the creator of the universe we are inhabiting as we read.

Wolfe's familiarity with gnostic principles seems unquestionable, so I don't
think it escapes him that as he writes, he is functioning as a Demiurge. 
Perhaps the dogs/gods are a recognition that while he is the creator of this 
universe, he acknowledges that he is a false (and perhaps evil) god and that
the one true, spiritual God above all should always be recognized foremost.                           
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Well, I suppose we might as well talk about the meta- features of Wolfe.  His wife's name is Rosemary, his last name is Wolfe- clearly the matching of vegetable and animal is ensconced in that very real world nomenclature, and contributed to his naming scheme in Long Sun.  He has embedded his name in many of his stories (the pun on Gene and Sis making worlds in "Creation", though he is an only child in real life) ... but still ... I just don't like the meta level to make interpretations about plot, more as an aside, especially in the solar cycle.  Things like "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" (unless I am misremembering it) are overtly metafictional, but I think his solar cycle operates on that level almost exclusively as punny asides rather than, say, central answers to mysteries.

I feel like if he were just a tad bit more postmodern we could find him in the tunnels, but I feel there is such a complete awareness of the solar cycle as a real, legitimate universe that is not reducible to the postmodern "all this is just the creation of GW, you know it, I know it, here is the artificiality on display" that to some degree we should keep separate the author as character and his created world.
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