(urth) Short Story 82: The God and His Man

[Marc Aramini]

Some asked him about how much of an impact or influence Dune had on him and
his writing, referring to the praxis of religious thought with the Freman
(all these prophecies and gene scheming plans to produce a "foretold" but
ultimately secular power who controls a world with a religion he did not
grow up in, etc.) and Wolfe simply said little to none.


On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 5:34 AM, Brad Henry <bradhenry101 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Marc,
> If you could--and just out of curiosity--what did Wolfe mean by the
> 'religious forces at work' in Dune, and why would that have meant Dune
> would not have left an impact on him?
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 8:21 AM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I always wonder at how much is direct reference and how much is
>> zeitgeist. Wolfe almost never mentions Dick as an influence, and once,
>> because of the religious forces at work in Dune, said Dune had little to no
>> impact on his writing. I have read a fair amount of Dick (my favorite is
>> Flow My Tears the Policeman Said because of the lonely woman's take on
>> pets, if I remember right, and Ubik was pretty good) but not galactic pot
>> healer.
>>
>> And to be honest part of the reason I never read it is probably a
>> reaction to the title - I am trying to imagine 60 year old Wolfe reading a
>> book with "galactic pot healer" on the cover.
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, August 7, 2014, Mo Holkar <mo at holkar.net> wrote:
>>
>>> At 01:03 07/08/2014, Gwern wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 2:26 PM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > It is likely Tarnung was capable of affecting light waves. It is
>>>> German for
>>>> > camouflage or disguise.
>>>>
>>>> Tarnung is likely a Ring reference to the Tarnhelm, which grants
>>>> invisibility. Given that the other magic item is a maser which creates
>>>> waves of coherent straight radiation, the Tarnung probably bends light
>>>> to achieve invisibility.
>>>>
>>>> The Ring cycle would be an interesting theme to bring in, as it too
>>>> involves the fall of gods.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A thought that's just occurred -- is it possible that the name "Tarnung"
>>> indicates a response of sorts to the Glimmung (which means roughly
>>> "brightness") in Philip K. Dick's novel Galactic Pot-Healer? This is also
>>> about a human man sent on a mission to an alien planet by a godlike being,
>>> and its themes (conformity vs creativity, the need to obey gods or not) are
>>> such as might have resonated with Wolfe.
>>>
>>> best,
>>>
>>> Mo
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