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<div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">_The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures
in Narnia_ by Laura Miller. Basically: young girl loves
Narnia, clueless about the religious aspect. Grows up, eyes
open, feels betrayed by the allegory. Gets even older, comes
to terms with loving a book that she does not at all
"believe."But it brings to mind two questions about Wolfe:<br>
1) In what sense do people feel that his books are
"allegorical" (even in the loosest sense) of his (or any)
religious views? I take it here that allegorical means more
than being informed-by-religion and actually instructive-of or
apologetic-for a certain theology, as Lewis apparently wanted
Narnia to be?<br>
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1) Sometimes his work is apologetic and sometimes it isn't. The Sun
Cycle --the setting and heroes-- are Christian Gnostic. Actually,
the setting of the Wizard Knight is Gnostic as well with it's layers
of aeons each ruled by an archon. I doubt Wolfe is Gnostic. When
Silk talks about gun control, I presume Wolfe concurs. The way Able
makes Disiri human is I presume a Christian figure. When Wolfe, (as
I believe) creates a Rajan character who is father, son, and spirit,
three-in-one, he is probably rationalizing the Trinity. But it is
all an extremely light touch. If anything IMO associating the
characters Severian with Jesus (as Wolfe certainly does) would be
blasphemous if it were intended as Christian allegory (however
loosely).<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:454980.67983.qm@web37602.mail.mud.yahoo.com"
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<div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;">2) How do his non-Catholic readers react to
the overt theologizing and moralizing that is obviously there
at times? (This would go for even Catholic readers who might
find something non-orthodox.)<br>
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2) I'm not Catholic. How do I react to the Catholicism that *does*
arise in his stories? Let me put it this way. I have zero sympathy
for anyone who discovers that there is a Christian theme in the
Narnia books and feels "betrayed". I consider that ignorant bigotry.
They are no different from the Christians who have spoken to me
against the "unChristian elements" in Narnia and Tolkien and said
their stories were unsuitable for youth. <br>
<br>
The shelves of libraries are full of stories that are condescending
or hostile to observant Christian belief...I mean the kind of
fervent belief that causes people to pool their money to send
missionaries to tell about on 12000 miles away. Those books reflect
the worldview of 30s Intellectualism (which originally was a
specific movement that was politically pro-socialism and religiously
materialistic) which --for decades-- darkly overshadowed the
publishing industry. The Great Books are full of moralizing and
theologizing from that angle. Should observant Christians feel
betrayed by that? Overt liberal democracy is pretty rare in science
fiction. If the governance of the societies are defined at all, they
are typically centrally planned either by a bureaucratic government
or a military order. Should I feel betrayed by this or just allow
myself to follow along the story the author chooses to weave? <br>
<br>
As for Narnia, if people didn't continuously and erroneously
INTRODUCE people to the books as "Christian allegory", not that many
people would catch on to the Christian themes mixed in there -- not
until the final volume if at all. Lewis noted that most did not and
those that did were usually children. I have had very astute readers
tell me that they didn't note any Christian themes in "Til We Have
Faces" until *I* began discussing them. Anyway, Narnia is not nearly
so crudely apologetic as Pullman's answer to it. <br>
<br>
J.<br>
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