{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2379", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 2379, "subject": "Parkroads (the new Suzanne Delage)", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "2000-08-31T10:51:22+00:00", "last": "2000-08-31T12:26:55+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Peter Westlake", "address": "peter at harlequin.co.uk" }, "date": "2000-08-31T12:26:55+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Parkroads (the new Suzanne Delage)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "In the introduction to \"Storeys from the Old Hotel\", Wolfe describes\n\"Parkroads\" as (quoting it from memory) \"as good a piece as I've ever\nturned out\". This is high praise indeed, so I read it again (easy\nenough, as it's only four pages) to see if I could find anything more\nin it that last time. Wolfe calls it \"a short story written in the\nform of a film review\", which I think is significant; it isn't just\na pastiche review. So, what's it all about? There is the plot of the\nfilm, which involves a Chinese/Korean family looking for a distant\nparadise; there are allusions to the making of the film, with all\nsorts of symmetries in its structure and history; and there is a\nlong discussion of the combinatorial problem of getting all the reels\nin the right order. This gets quite a lot of space in a very short\nstory, so it must mean *something*. It is suggested that anyone seeing\nthe first six reels might be inspired to produce a seventh; has the\nwhole film been produced by this sort of iterative process? It doesn't\nseem likely, as we are told it was made in just two times, 1939 and 1984.\n\nSo - any suggestions?\n\nSpectacled Bear." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "2000-08-31T10:51:22+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Parkroads (the new Suzanne Delage)", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " I have no idea, other than once again an homage to Borges.\n Some things that come to me though, which may be totally offbase:\nPossibly this is another of Wolfe's \"Christian\" stories, in some sense. As\nin \"To the Seventh,\" we have a move through six to seven, which in \"To the\nSeventh\" has to do with reaching the eschatological sabbath (death/heaven).\nThe allegorical elements in \"To the Seventh,\" however, are pretty obvious.\nHere they don't seem to be (not to me, and assuming there ARE any!).\n Also, the notion that the family's original home, which they have left,\nis \"the same as\" the Golden Mountain Land (in some sense; the reviewer hopes\nit is not), correlates nicely with leaving the original Garden of Eden and\ngoing to the New Jerusalem, which in some sense is Eden restored and also\ntransformed -- the same and not the same.\n One would think that the ship would be, in some sense, the Church, and\nits demi-god captain, in some sense, Christ. But that does not seem to work,\nunless we assume that Chang/Christ is empowered to \"put people through hard\ntimes\" and even put them under judgment. Possibly. That's a Lupine theme\nelsewhere, but Chang did not strike me as very close to a Christ figure. See\nbelow.\n When the six reels (the six days of history) are put in the correct\norder, then the nature of the as-yet-nonexistent seventh reel will become\napparent. When we understand history, we shall understand eschatology also.\nThe seventh reel may already exist, in some sense, as the sabbath already\nexists in a limited way for human beings in the midst of history.\n Now, a westward movement being the course of true history is not\nuncommon, and journeying to the west as a picture of eschatology is all over\nthe place, from Arthur to Tolkein at least. But here the people are moving\nin the opposite direction. Adam was cast to the east of Eden, and Cain moved\nfurther east after murdering Abel. So, perhaps the characters, in their\neastward movement, are making a big mistake. The ship, then, would be an\nanti-Church, and Chang would be an anti-Christ. They characters need to turn\naround and move westward, back toward their original home, which will turn\nout to be a glorified Eden, the Golden Mountain Land.\n Perhaps the fact that Chang appears large and like a demi-god, while his\npassengers appear small, is another sign of a reversal of Christianity.\nJesus became small that we might become large; as the early Church put it,\nGod became man that man might become (a) god. Those who would be great among\nyou must be like me, said Jesus, and become the least of all. The\ntriumphalism of Chang and the humiliation of his passengers would be a\nreversal of this principle.\n But maybe this is all wrong. In the Memoirs of Severian, we find that\nlots of people out in space are named Chang, and we can assume many are ship\ncaptains. Maybe this story is somehow an allegory of the New Sun books!\n Well, that's for what it's worth. I'm certainly not invested in it! But\nmaybe this will stimulate someone else to a better read.\n\nNutria" } ] } ] }