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Knight</title></head><body>
<div><br></div>
<div>Thanks for the comments so far! I think I'll wait until I
reply fully, hoping that there will be more of them.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>And don't worry about "piling on" -- I knew what I was
doing when I posted a largely critical review of a Gene Wolfe to a
Gene Wolfe board. I expected disagreement -- in fact I hoped for
it, since I'm curious about other's views.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>But I will ask responders to keep in mind two (related)
things.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>First, please don't assume I've never read Wolfe before, and/or
don't understand how complex his works can sometimes be. I
worked hard to make it clear that I have read a lot of Wolfe (not
everything he's written, but a great many of his books), and that I
*do* understand how complex he can be. I know that Wolfe
"has never in his life told a straightforward tale" --
that's why I quoted John Clute to that effect.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>It's simply that I don't think that *everything* about his work
is that complex; I would argue that there is a surface *as well as*
depth to his works.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Which leads me to point two: I don't think it's a sufficient
answer to say that any criticism must *a priori* be wrong since this
book is written by Wolfe. I made -- I trust -- a good prima
facie case about some problems in The Wizard Knight (problems that I
*don't* think all his work has -- thus my examples of The Book of the
New Sun and The Fifth Head of Cerberus as more complex and, I argue,
ultimately more successful works).</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>This, it seems to me, switches the burden of proof. I
*acknowledge* that Wolfe is a subtle, devious writer who uses
unreliable narrators and tells his stories in oblique and
hard-to-decipher ways. *Despite this* I claim that the
criticisms I made hold.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Thus it's not answer to say that "perhaps something more
complex is going on", or "Wolfe's narrators are sometimes
unreliable": I think that you have to actually *argue* that in
*this* case this is true *in ways relevant to my critiques*.
Either make the case here, or present a link to another case.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I think this is true in all of the aspects of this argument....
but most especially in terms of a sentiment like "If you found
the ethics to be problematic then perhaps the situations were intended
to cause the reader to reflect on those problems.", where I not
only made a textual case, but also pointed towards a lot of
extra-textual evidence about Wolfe's views and intents.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>None of this is to say that I think my position is unassailable:
on the contrary, I posted the review here because I am interested in
counter-arguments. But I am interested in counter-*arguments*,
not unsubstantiated claims that it is (or, worse, a priori must be)
more complex than I am presuming.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I look forward to more arguing against my position! (Or,
heck, for it too. If people pile on great, but I wouldn't *mind*
agreement. :> )</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Stephen Frug</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>PS: Oh, and remember that "glory, honor, courage, or hallow"
is a *quote* -- from Ernest Hemingway -- not my words. I
presented it as an exemplar of a broader change in attitude that
occurred (in complex ways at various times, but most especially) after
the first world war. If you think I'm wrong that this happened,
or this attitude's wrong, then fine. But to nit-pick the choice
of those four words is to miss the point: they weren't my words, it
was my citation of another's words.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>(The block-quote is clearer in the blog-version of this review,
which you can find here:</div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="+1"
color="#000000"
>http://stephenfrug.blogspot.com/2007/09/writer-as-werwolf-mixed-thou<span
></span>ghts-on.html</font></div>
<div>-- I apologize if my unfamiliarity with the formatting of the
Urth list made what was a quote and what wasn't less clear than it
should have been.)</div>
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