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All other things aside I don't see what "sociology of publishing" has to do with the quality of a particular work. The work stands or falls on its own merit. It seems like you are …
14 Apr 2009, 07:02
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Putting aside contentious interpretations about what the estate tax is "intended" to do, this does not seem to me to be a good model for social mobility (that is, having it done by…
31 Mar 2009, 10:41
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka The City and Borough of Sitka is a unified city-borough located on the west side of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific O…
28 Mar 2009, 22:43
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All of this is very nice, but I thought we weren't having this conversation.…
28 Mar 2009, 05:58
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OK, but at the same time in his later appearances he also seems more polite. Possibly because he's in more control of the situation, rather than possibly having been called up in t…
27 Mar 2009, 19:23
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The cop is not a Wolfean hero, he is a bend-the-rules sort of cop who has been called on out of the blue to pay back a favor and is annoyed. However, on that note, who killed the …
27 Mar 2009, 09:48
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I've heard this argument, but there is no background for evaluation on this scale. There has never been what I assume you would consider to be a well-run society that was also a po…
26 Mar 2009, 20:33
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To pick nits, it depends on the size of the taxes being removed and the tax being levied. If you assume they are equal size (or for that matter any arrangement where the two remove…
26 Mar 2009, 20:22
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A rather overly narrow interpretation of what constitutes a "burden", however.…
26 Mar 2009, 18:55
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On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 10:10 AM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote: Enamel: In BSG people have (and don't have) sex for all sorts of human reasons, and have all sorts of …
24 Mar 2009, 21:51
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This may just be an extension of the general problem of identity in the books. I don't have a problem with seeing Sinew within Krait, in a sense, but the idea that Krait IS Sinew s…
22 Mar 2009, 22:55
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Chenille became an inhumi? Maybe it's been far too long since I read the books, but I don't recall that at all. _________________________________________________________________ I…
22 Mar 2009, 22:21
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Given that Wolfe was writing all this, I think we need to consider more complex interpretations.…
22 Mar 2009, 10:27
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It has been too long since I read the books and my memory is hazy, but is there not also an aspect in which the Neighbors are themselves sort of... composite... beings? Would it be…
20 Mar 2009, 04:14
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I agree, although I'd maintain that this is still exactly the same ambiguity - there are two common understandings of what makes up the 'self'. It is somewhat open as to what terms…
19 Mar 2009, 22:04
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This is basically why I made the comment I did about Pas. Though James is extremely to the point in bringing up Rose-in-Marble, who I think foreshadows this problem at least in par…
19 Mar 2009, 20:29
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Relax. I attributed an emotional reaction to you not as a form of projection but because you seem unable to discuss some topics in a cooperative, rational way. If I think you're re…
19 Mar 2009, 18:18
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Part of this discussion started with some reflections on identity. I mentioned that there is a "simple" view where each self is a "soul", thought of as a (perhaps eternal) substanc…
19 Mar 2009, 18:09
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At least the way I read it, Pas did not have a soul as such. He was a... pattern, or a psyche (in the terminology I remember us using in that particular conversation) at best. Typh…
19 Mar 2009, 05:41
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The existence of a law (in the sense of a law of ours, not a law of nature) does not prohibit the possibility of a thing, it introduces the expectation of certain consequences if i…
18 Mar 2009, 18:13
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Thanks for your help, although I think you're forgetting that conversation has its own set of expectations and responsibilities from all participating parties in order to make the …
18 Mar 2009, 18:09
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No, you can get by on passive-aggressive insinuations. If you don't recognize it in your own tone I don't know what to tell you. I just decided you weren't worth any more effort t…
18 Mar 2009, 08:44
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Apparently this is an emotional subject for you. So, snark on then. That would be highly, extraordinarily pertinent and a very intelligent point to make if I had made the claim th…
18 Mar 2009, 07:47
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I have no problem believing that some people favor gun control for fear of the "lower orders", or for racial reasons. But I do not buy into this as a general explanation of the ent…
18 Mar 2009, 06:25
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That argument can only really hold water when it comes to the U.S., though, and there has been disarmament in a number of other countries that I think would be difficult to attribu…
18 Mar 2009, 04:04
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It's certainly safe to say that it appears in a large number of them, and the times it comes up in the longer works generally give a pretty unambiguous picture. Although interestin…
18 Mar 2009, 02:47
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I don't have any kind of problem with this sort of example, and there are plenty of them in Wolfe's work. He has a belief, and he doesn't argue it to me (as the reader) or even nec…
17 Mar 2009, 18:48
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Politics appears in Moore's work, though I have never detected any particular political thesis he's forwarding or an outright agenda. Wolfe is more overtly political.…
17 Mar 2009, 04:20
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C. Everett Koop sounds a little bit like it... You'll get even drunker just trying to get that image out of your head.…
17 Mar 2009, 02:19
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The sword itself is very explicitly not designed for that kind of fighting. It is designed for executions; the balance and size guarantee that, no matter how you contrive to carry …
17 Feb 2009, 21:32
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Ravd seems meant to stand in contrast to Berthold, as well, although neither is particularly a pacifist and I don't think Berthold's color would be white. Nonetheless the Chesterto…
13 Feb 2009, 21:15
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So am I, and I'm pretty sure there are two are three others that are old timers, but I don't think most of us have ever actually met.…
13 Feb 2009, 21:04
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Part of what makes those passages difficult to take straightforwardly is that Severian is clearly writing for an audience, and there's an element of apologia. Many times I see him …
11 Feb 2009, 22:08
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"Priest rapists", your mother, her drinking habits, and Satanists are - as far as I can tell - immaterial to Wolfe's work. I'm sure some people probably were offended by what you …
05 Feb 2009, 07:37
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There is wiggle-room for interpretation, but generally interpretation is supposed to stay close to the original intention of the speaker or at least not contradict it without absol…
03 Feb 2009, 23:55
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I would say that while it is not a master-key, it is something that allows dimensions of interpretation that would otherwise be unavailable, and that seem to have a substantial fou…
23 Jan 2009, 06:21
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I've read it. There was definitely some good stuff in it, although I strongly disagree with Wright's overall interpretation of the work (and the way he argues for that interpretati…
26 Nov 2008, 01:08
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I don't have any textual basis for this, but I thought of the Torturers as tracing their lineage back to Typhon. This is sort of the reverse of your impression; the institution wou…
22 Nov 2008, 20:02
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Whether we come to agreement or not, failing to accept compatible assumptions is not the end of things. One person may hold assumptions that are logically incompatible, or perhaps …
07 Nov 2008, 12:27
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Sometimes irreconcilable differences in thought are resolvable because one of the views in question is simply wrong. (I work in an environment thoroughly saturated with the sort of…
06 Nov 2008, 21:25
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The sense in which it's obvious is a bit weak, but I am not sure how to more properly put the case. In a sense even under the dictator you have a say, insofar as you obey (or don'…
06 Nov 2008, 19:48
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Aramini said: "I don't really want to start a riot, but my position on voting is that there are specialized members in every society who are qualified for some tasks but should…
06 Nov 2008, 19:02
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Generally speaking it's hard to interpret Severian's writing on politics because it could be one or more of several different things. For one thing, it is difficult to forget that…
06 Nov 2008, 18:41
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I am still working out how this fits with the theory currently being discussed, but with regard to Sev1 and Sev2 I always took that as Severian being a bit myopic in his thinking; …
23 Dec 2007, 20:12
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I actually believe there is a good argument to be made for there being an important shift in the narration at exactly the point you suggest. I think there are a number of plausible…
18 Dec 2007, 06:03
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Maybe so, actually. A serious case could be made for it. In the end the penchant for "trivia" and puzzle-solving is inherent to this list, though, and while the answers to those ty…
17 Dec 2007, 19:14
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I very much agree with what you've said as far as the meanings of the books. I'd also add that Wolfe's evasiveness is pretty understandable in that he clearly wants the reader to …
17 Dec 2007, 18:09
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While I agree with Dan'l 1000% that the Blue-Green system is NOT the Urth system, I think his comment "as unequivocally as he ever states anything" is (if not entirely tongue in ch…
17 Dec 2007, 09:57
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Brunians said: Well, assuming that you're not really reading it *as* scripture. If it's the Word of God then anything essential to know that's in it can be "understood" in any lan…
27 Nov 2007, 20:26
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Rostrum said: I can accept that there's a connection to it, but I feel that a focus on that connection is kind of looking the wrong direction when it comes to interpreting the boo…
28 Sep 2007, 18:51
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