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I got around to reading this. It's a good read, though hardly profound, but didn't strike me as particularly Wolfean. If I had to describe it in that manner, I'd call it a cross …
28 Apr 2002, 15:42
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On the subject of laughing... I was rereading "These Are the Jokes" (in CASTLE OF DAYS) the other day, and was reminded that I don't get two of the jokes. In Thecla's joke, what …
22 Apr 2002, 14:14
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Or else Wolfe, in expanding the 5HC novella, wanted to write a story about the Shadow Children, and decided to tie it in to parts 1 and 3 by having it be written by "John V. Marsch…
22 Apr 2002, 14:14
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I have a hard time reconciling this reading with the references in the SHADOW appendix to "a tongue that has not yet achieved existence" (unless we are supposed to believe that the…
22 Apr 2002, 14:14
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Another plug, for another non-sf book. This one plays Wolfe-like games with a thoroughly unreliable narrator, but more accessibly than Wolfe. In one sense it could be said to go …
22 Apr 2002, 14:14
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I'm a bit puzzled by this last statement. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Orthodox Judaism has, throughout, maintained both a belief in the future resurrection of the dea…
22 Apr 2002, 03:02
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Wolfe said this? I'm quite surprised, even shocked. I'm pretty much of an intentionalist, but (without having reread all the books) this strikes me as a pointless complication wi…
20 Apr 2002, 14:29
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Is it possible that, since the sun is dim enough that the sky is black during the day, there are naturally no rainbows on Urth? "It occurred to me when I began _The Book of the Ne…
19 Apr 2002, 20:27
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Since there's been interest in the past in finding parallels between Wolfe's works and the Oz books, I thought I'd pass along this tidbit from Wolfe's essay in Contemporary Authors…
19 Apr 2002, 15:04
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In Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series vol. 9, Wolfe writes: "I sent him [Knight] a rather experimental story in which a series of reports by an astronaut and a series of le…
19 Apr 2002, 15:04
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Well, he isn't literally Jesus: he's not God, and his return isn't the Second Coming of Christ (and I've never understood how the events of UotNS are to be reconciled with the Chri…
19 Apr 2002, 15:04
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Interesting post by Marc. I didn't find any of the subtleties in PANDORA that Marc did; the few "clues" I did notice seemed to me to be just affectations leading nowhere. It stru…
16 Apr 2002, 14:10
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I wanted to recommend two books I've read recently which should be of interest to those on this list, although they have nothing else in common aside from very similar titles. One…
16 Apr 2002, 14:10
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I read the review cited by Matthew Davis, in the Mar. 13 NYT, and in fact it praises Falin's poetry. Was there another NYT review? I'd call the review as a whole mixed rather tha…
02 Apr 2002, 15:29
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Frost read a poem at Kennedy's inauguration, referred to on p. 4 of THE TRANSLATOR (which also has another reference to the Shelley quote). Neither Falin's poems nor Kit's own poe…
01 Apr 2002, 16:48
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Big spoilers, so don't read this if you haven't finished the book. The quote is alluded to on p. 294. This is what I originally thought was going on, too. But thinking it over, …
31 Mar 2002, 15:22
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I was treating Blue and Green as analogous to Earth and Venus: completely independent orbits which remain fixed (i. e. don't oscillate). What you describe is more like mantis's tw…
29 Mar 2002, 20:04
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Has anyone else finished this? Would anyone care to discuss it, either here or elsewhere? (I'm a member of the johncrowleyreaders Yahoo group, but it's small and doesn't seem to …
29 Mar 2002, 04:36
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I don't know about that. I once looked at his afterword to a collection of his short stories (DANCE BAND ON THE TITANIC, iirc), and it was pretty self-important: he claimed that f…
28 Mar 2002, 21:20
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on 3/25/02 5:19 PM, Roy C. Lackey at rclackey at stic.net wrote: Thanks for digging these figures up! They indeed present serious difficulties. This last bit doesn't follow. It's…
28 Mar 2002, 21:20
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At one point there were four or five small presses publishing Lafferty's as-yet-unpublished works. Then, at about the same time (early 90s, I think) they all stopped. There are s…
26 Mar 2002, 03:00
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On pp. 178-80 of John Crowley's new novel THE TRANSLATOR, there is a poem (actually the first draft of a translation of a poem) written by a Russian poet in exile during the Cold W…
12 Mar 2002, 20:28
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He could have run away; his choice is not between killing and dying, but between risking his life (by killing) and preserving it. But you're right that he undergoes a conversion. …
09 Mar 2002, 15:55
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I finally got around to (re)reading "The Blue Mouse," and I'm kind of sorry I did: it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The story oozes contempt for the Techs, "soldiers" psyc…
07 Mar 2002, 04:58
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Further thoughts, taking off from my last post: If it is indeed the case that the rebels' sole "pitch" to prospective suicide bombers is broadcasting footage of those who have alr…
02 Mar 2002, 03:14
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That was my first thought too, but it doesn't really fit; if Peters dies where he falls there's no time for the fire to "scar" him. --Adam…
24 Feb 2002, 00:51
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I've been following the discussion with interest, but been busy; it's nice to be remembered. Anyway, I'll try to catch up. Yes; on p. 154 (Orb edition) the word occurs without a …
22 Feb 2002, 20:11
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There are plenty of conservative Catholics who believe that abolishing the Latin mass was a mistake. While there was rivalry between secular and ecclesiastical authority in the mi…
09 Feb 2002, 01:41
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Sorry this response is so late. As the only revolutionary leader in BOTNS, Vodalus represents the idea of revolution. If I read a book in which Lenin played a major role, and tur…
06 Feb 2002, 02:35
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I think you're mixing up the HRE and the Byzantine Empire. The HRE was never taken by the Turks; it was dissolved by Napoleon (who no doubt got labelled the Antichrist himself). …
06 Feb 2002, 02:35
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The Catholic intellectual tradition is wide and diverse. The Catholic Encyclopedia may state the "mainstream" position, but that doesn't oblige Wolfe to agree with it. Catholics …
03 Feb 2002, 15:35
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That wasn't what I meant to imply (I actually hadn't been thinking about thuggee at all). But Kali is a goddess of death, and I don't know why Wolfe would drop in a reference to K…
03 Feb 2002, 15:02
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It's called "In Glory Like Their Star." It was in the Oct/Nov 2001 issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It is very good. --Adam…
31 Jan 2002, 15:14
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It's not clear to me why you think the bald man reciting the Lord's Prayer is Wolfe, or even why you think Wolfe approves of the rebellion. Among other things, the bald man is a s…
31 Jan 2002, 15:14
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I know this is old news by now, but I was waiting until I could check the magazine (F & SF, Oct/Nov 2001) out of my library to write; and then I was waiting until Ranjit re-establi…
29 Jan 2002, 18:20
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I think that Wolfe disapproves of the revolution there, though he doesn't like the corporate forces of order either (but I'd have to read it again to be sure). I looked at a copy …
08 Jan 2002, 15:43
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In other works Wolfe approves not just of civil disobedience but of revolution: Silkhorn leads a revolution in Dorp, and Wolfe endorses the revolution that is gathering at the end …
07 Jan 2002, 05:33
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Andy, I think you're putting too much emphasis on the libertarian elements in Wolfe's political thought (which are certainly present), at the expense of his call for submission to …
04 Jan 2002, 19:49
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[summary snipped] I agree that these are probably Wolfe's political views, with a couple of exceptions: This I'm not so sure about. None of Wolfe's "good rulers" are reared for …
04 Jan 2002, 15:31
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The Thoreau bit (which I rather liked) was also quoted in "Death of the Island Doctor," iirc. I hadn't known it was by Thoreau, though. --Adam…
03 Jan 2002, 17:01
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Not feudalism, but an idealized version of Merrie Olde England, in which the squire or local aristocrat (or factory owner) is the acknowledged leader of the community, dispensing c…
03 Jan 2002, 16:59
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No, it's an essay specifically about Tolkien, originally published in INTERZONE. It's posted at http://home.clara.net/andywrobertson/docindex.html --Adam…
02 Jan 2002, 23:36
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Thanks for putting this essay on your website, Andy; it's a great service. I agree that it's an important essay for Wolfe scholars, even if you don't care about Tolkien, as I don't…
02 Jan 2002, 15:13
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If your brother's bookclub will consider a short story collection I'd suggest THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR DEATH... if it's still in print. I think that's the best introduction to Wolfe f…
09 Dec 2001, 15:38
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For the sake of civility, I suggest that people refrain from making claims for the superiority of one religion over another on this list. I would dispute Jim Jordan's comments, bu…
02 Dec 2001, 14:31
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The first time this subject came up, mantis contributed a list of the "books" in BIBLIOMEN which included seven books not on his more recent list: Brooks, Robert T., (Spinning Jen…
19 Oct 2001, 23:07
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On the subject of new, or at least newish, Wolfe stories, there's a story by Wolfe entitled "Pocketsful of Diamonds" which I don't recall seeing discussed here; it was published in…
17 Oct 2001, 22:16
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I actually brought this up a few months ago; the thread should be in the most recent volume of the archives, if you can downloaded it. I offered to collect suggestions and send th…
15 Oct 2001, 19:19
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I read that story a long time ago, and don't remember it that well. I vaguely recall their being a priest in it; is that right? In any case, "Queen" is Catholic in a different se…
12 Oct 2001, 00:14
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Wolfe has a story in the Dec. 2001 REALMS OF FANTASY entitled "Queen." It's a minor story, and only a little over two pages long, but is of interest as his most specifically Catho…
11 Oct 2001, 21:51
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