Subject: Re: (urth) Lafferty

From: Alex David Groce <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:19:19 +0000

that although Wolfe and Lafferty share similar worldviews and Wolfe is a great
admirer of Lafferty's works, they don't have similar styles.  I would suspect
that there are other Lafferty fans on the list, though.  I certainly love
Lafferty's work.  Actually, another point would be that Lafferty's work is
generally less open to the kind of minute "hunt for clues" that Wolfe invites.
 Lafferty seems to be a gestalt--you get it or you don't, and a search for
hidden symbolisms or recursive structures is unproductive.

-- 
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." - John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu)
Senior (Computer Science/Multidisciplinary Studies in Technology & Fiction)
'98-99 NCSU AITP Student Chapter President
608 Charleston Road, Apt. 1E (919)-233-7366
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~adgroce

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

---

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 05:05:26 +0000

"Alex David Groce" <adgroce at eos.ncsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:19:19 -0500 wrote:

>  I would imagine that the lack of Lafferty discussion is due to the fact
that although Wolfe and Lafferty share similar worldviews and Wolfe is a
great
admirer of Lafferty's works, they don't have similar styles.  I would
suspect
that there are other Lafferty fans on the list, though.  I certainly love
Lafferty's work.  Actually, another point would be that Lafferty's work is
generally less open to the kind of minute "hunt for clues" that Wolfe
invites.
Lafferty seems to be a gestalt--you get it or you don't, and a search for
hidden symbolisms or recursive structures is unproductive. <

    I too like Lafferty, but all too often often I don't "get it". Sometimes
I'm not so sure what there is to get, which may be related to why most of
his later work only saw print from obscure presses. Last spring mantis was
wondering where else in fiction he had read about the "fake" Venus de Milo.
It rang a bell. I thought it was from the Master Forger bits in _Where Have
You Been, Sandaliotis?_, but I couldn't find it there. Oh, well. Thanks for
the input.

Roy