<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">>>One thing that's significant about Wolfe's reliance on unreliable narrators, and I think this is most explicit in Long Sun and Short Sun,<br>>>is that he's mirroring an >important aspect of Christian religious faith. Believers, for the most part, rely upon the Gospels, accounts<br>>>that are, by their natural, unreliable. Wolfe seems to think that this is or can be a rational choice, but he's not interested in soft-pedalling<br>>>the complications this entails. But maybe there's a Chesteronian idea at work as well, which is that stories that are <em>compelling </em>are more<br>>>likely to be true--that human beings naturally seek to order things into coherent and interesting narratives because we think that such<br>>>narratives best help us
to make sense of the world.<br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>
<br>I like this a lot.<br><br>It also speaks to Severian's dilemma: could he just be a dupe of alien creatures AND an actual messiah figure? Even false things can be true.<br>
</div><br></div></div>
</div><br>
</body></html>