Well, I'm way behind in all the gritty details of this debate, but (that's where you all stop reading - ach, well)... Just because Wolfe is no Card (is that a pun?) doesn't mean he can't be a clearly spiritual (and, dare I say it, 'evangelistic') writer in his own way. I, at least, have found a richly rendered 'incarnational' and 'improvisational' sort of 'apologia' and 'euangelion' (yes, radically distinct in many important ways from the likes of Chesterton or Lewis) <b><i>IN THE TEXTS</i></b> of the Solar Cycle, an invitational and 'subversive' Christian orthodoxy and orthopraxy (be they ever so slyly idiosyncratic) that basically 'triumphs' over all the other systems (e.g. from polytheism to gnosticism) in a theo-comedic 'underdog' sort of way (for those who wish to see it - Wolfe is no bully). [Akin to St Paul's 'cosmic judo' sort of atonement theology in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%202:13-19&version=NIV">Colossians 2:15</a>.]<div>
<br></div><div>I believe that this being the case in no way shuts down or closes the 'infinite play of meaning' that his narratives clearly intend to induce. But it does give that play certain contours and trajectories if we want to acknowledge them.</div>
<div><div><br></div><div>I hope to write about it in more detail some day...<div><br></div><div>-DOJP<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 14, 2012 at 5:04 PM, Craig Brewer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cnbrewer@yahoo.com">cnbrewer@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif"><div><span>I think like James, apparently. I'm just generally skeptical of approaches that start by assuming what Wolfe must think and then try to find that in the text. I'd rather start with the story and stay with it. I know I just said not long ago that you have to take his Catholicism into account, but I think of it more as an intellectual and allusion-based context, rather than a program. Doesn't mean the stories can't end up saying those things, but it's a matter of how you get there, I suppose.</span></div>
<div><br><span></span></div><div><span>And, James, do you remember where he makes that Card comparison? I recall it, but can't place it.<br></span></div><div><br></div> <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 dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial"><div class="im"> <hr size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold">From:</span></b> James Wynn <<a href="mailto:crushtv@gmail.com" target="_blank">crushtv@gmail.com</a>><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> The Urth Mailing List <<a href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net" target="_blank">urth@lists.urth.net</a>> <br> </div><b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, March 14, 2012 11:42 AM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: (urth) Lupiverse(es)m<br> </font> </div><div><div class="h5"> <br>
<div>
<div>
On 3/14/2012 10:10 AM, Craig Brewer wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif">I'm not saying you can't still draw
"spiritual" conclusions about all of this. But they're going to
be more indirect, I think, than "this is Wolfe's final
theological statement on X." For example: Urth continues, and
it's a better place, but it's not a perfect "Christian" world,
right? </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
I think it is a big mistake to read Wolfe as one would read
Chesterton or Lewis. He's not primarily "justifying God's ways to
man". Nor is he primarily demonstrating the moral & practical
primacy of classical liberalism. There is some of that in there, but
--although I vocally detect a lot of things going on in his novels--
I don't detect that he feels bound to any theological historicity.
If I believed that, then I would conclude that Wolfe has strong
secret gnostic leanings. And I don't. Briah is far more gnostic
than Christian. Gnosticism absorbed elements of Christianity just as
it did everything else so you're going to see Christian elements in
any gnostic world. It is not for nothing that Severian is named
after a gnostic Christian sect. <br>
<br>
Wolfe has said that he doesn't feel an especial need to express his
faith in his writings (citing Orson Scott Card as a
counter-example). Trying to detect his theological beliefs from the
setting or final resolution of Urth strikes me as folly.<br>
<br>
The New Sun can be most naturally read as being in our future. The
universe iterations allow you to elide that if you want to. But one
should not carry it to the next level and speculate on the
theological implications of the expanding/collapsing universes.<br>
<br>
J<br>
<br>
</div>
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