<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">I think this is how many more people approach the text (at least on this list):<br><br>>>David said:<br>>>>Another possible angle is one I would not expect Wright to use, and that is to ask, IF the Increate/divine is "present" in BOTNS, where is he/it? Perhaps this is backwards,<br>>>>but again: once we have counted and catalogued the trees, isn't it time to talk about forests?<br><br>The bigger point of Wright's book is to say that Wolfe is usually doing something opposite and even intentionally disruptive of that. One way to put it is that Wright thinks that Wolfe is almost always pretending to write "fantasy" (whether that "fantasy" be magic, the supernatural, or even religious notions) when, in fact, he's writing science fiction. He seems to think that there is always a
mundane, "rational," materialistic explanation for the otherworldly. (Wright would LOVE LOVE LOVE the notion floated awhile back about _The Sorcerer's House_ which suggested that the whole thing was a complicated scam rather than an actual story of magic.) Or if that's too extreme (I mean, even Wright admits that Latro does actually talk to gods in his stories), then it's rather than Wolfe's narrators or narrative voice is always being deceptive about *something* (perhaps even self-deceptive), and the reader's job is disabuse them of those deceptions. It just so happens that Wright's examples of "deception" are usually when Wolfe does "fantasy/magic/religion."<br><br>Anyway, I do recommend it, even if I don't agree with it. Wright knows when he's saying things that a lot of Wolfe fans will disagree with, and he makes his case knowing that it might be a minority opinion. And I found his arguments to be thoughtful rather than arbitrary, which is what you
want when you're looking for a good discussion.<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;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font: inherit;" valign="top"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>
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