I agree. But that’s okay because lord knows I have snickered at academics quite a bit. (Present company excepted; redeemed by interest in Wolfe)<br><br>On Saturday, March 17, 2018, Ab de Vos <<a href="mailto:foxyab@casema.nl">foxyab@casema.nl</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Roberts is also disparaging to Wolfe fans because he thinks they
do more wrong than right by delving deeply into 'the matter of
Wolfe'. My own impression is he used Wolfe as a good example for
his general thesis on the origin of SF and the dialectic between
science and religion. I don't think he personally thinks Wolfe is
a great writer because his treatment lacks the enthusiasm of
treatments of other writers.</p>
<br>
<div>Op 17-3-2018 om 17:26 schreef Marc
Aramini:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">He
also says that attempting to explore the symbols creates more
textual insecurity (something I wholeheartedly disagree with -
sometimes the only closure is symbolic, and wolfe’s use of symbols
is surprisingly precise even in late work -see Julius smart, his
orange association (Naranjo) and the Marid naranj, for example - 1
to 1 symbolic representation) and that comparisons to Proust are
erroneous - wolfe rips off so many lines from Proust in New Sun it
isn’t even funny. Is an intentional science fictional treatment of
involuntary memory triggered through scrumptious chatelaine flesh
rather than a madeline not enough?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>many are not equipped to deal with Wolfe’s symbols, I suppose
(like that memory palace of Latro where the symbolic
manifestations of the gospel writers just happen to appear,
mixing so well with the pagan, with three camels approaching
from the south. That’s not truly ambiguous symbolism- it is very
precise in its implications).<br>
<br>
On Saturday, March 17, 2018, Marc Aramini <<a href="mailto:marcaramini@gmail.com" target="_blank">marcaramini@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<div class="gmail_extra">I just ordered the Kindle version
of the Palgrave History of SF and am glad that Wolfe takes
up so much space. I love what he has done with Wolfe
because it creates a rich discourse (contra me, of course,
though Roberts might never know it) ... I only had time
to skim it, though at first glance I have a completely and
utterly opposite take on Wolfe compared to Roberts (and
all academics poisoned by post-Northrop Frye developments,
confused by the nature of the very words they use). </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">He states that to try to solve the
puzzles and fill the spaces in Wolfe risks missing the
major stakes, and that as Long and Short Sun develop, the
ambiguity of New Sun is overturned by the enlightenment of
The Outsider and the undeniable existence of Ah Lah
(Silk's enlightenment is artificial and has a physical
cause - though the will of God is done regardless - in
many ways higher powers are far more prevalent in
Severian's abilities and autonomous resurrections, given
the red herring of the claw, powerful only for its
association with him, though the soul is of course a real
thing in all of the series). </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">These are my absolute statements
about Wolfe, which don't tend to agree very well with what
Roberts is saying, though I am glad he says them in a
public resource that will be read:</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">There is nothing of the
postmodernist about Wolfe save a mask. He mocks and
undercuts postmodern subjectivity by creating objectively
solvable puzzles at every turn - we do not have to be
caught up in the character's false impressions because we
are external to the system. These objective details
include history and creed. Sometimes the only way to
understand certain events involves symbolism, however.</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Those who do not solve the puzzles
as the text directs cannot often fully understand what
Wolfe is getting at and risk following their own agenda.
(See Peter Wright's championing of Marsch and the abos in
"Confounding the Skin and the Mask" on Ultan's Library as
one example where a colonial agenda is pushed at the
expense of the text's connotations, blaming humans for the
violence between abo tribes before they ever arrive on
Ste. Anne.)</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">If we all knew everything, then we
would see how profoundly connected to tradition and
objective reality Wolfe's works actually are. When all
information is available to us, the strangeness is no
longer strange at all, just an extension of patterns
existing in our reality. (The caveat here is who knows
everything? Well, when you want a job done right ... who
can straighten what Wolfe has writ crooked?)</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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