{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3934", "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": 3934, "subject": "Uther Uthers", "messages": 5, "voices": 5, "first": "2003-04-14T17:09:07+00:00", "last": "2003-04-16T21:00:55+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes", "address": "katbarx at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2003-04-14T17:09:07+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Uther Uthers", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "First, I want to chime in agreement for the Ted Chiang collection.\nReading it was like having my head blown off several times with small\nweapons fire. Astonishing writing about crazed events.\n\nSecond ... If you care to look backwards in time a bit, you might try\nJames Branch Cabell. His writing is just a wee bit more mannered than\nWolfe's, but quite good, and he was playing with timewalkers and the\nlogical and illogical consequences thereof before science fiction even\nhad a name or independent existence . Not all his books are brilliant,\nbut anything you're likely to come across without haunting antiquarian\nshops will be good. A quick scope of Amazon.com shows that his two --\nnot necessarily \"best\" but sort of foundational books -- are both in\nprint from Dover, and available as a twosome deal from Amazon. Oh, yeah.\nThe titles are FIGURES OF EARTH and JURGEN, the latter of which got\nCabell temporary fame as a cause celebre when it was tried for obscenity\naround 1920, and caused him grief forever after because everything he\nwrote from then on was compared to it." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Gareth Jelley", "address": "gjelley at btopenworld.com" }, "date": "2003-04-14T19:07:39+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Uther Uthers", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: \"Dan'l Danehy-Oakes\" \nFirst, I want to chime in agreement for the Ted Chiang collection.\nReading it was like having my head blown off several times with small\nweapons fire. Astonishing writing about crazed events." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Great comments - I've got this collection on my to-read pile...\n\nBest,\n\nG." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Alice K. Turner", "address": "aturner6 at nyc.rr.com" }, "date": "2003-04-14T23:12:00+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Uther Uthers", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I haven't read the Chiang collection, but everything I've run into\nindividually of his has been first-rate and highly original. But some\nnegatives: I did not like Mark Helprin's -Winter's Tale-. I wanted to; it\nseemed like the sort of book I would like, but it droned on and on and I\nsimply got bored by it. I did not really like -The Book of the Dun Cow-\neither; too elaborated and conceited. And I don't think Wolfe is a very good\nshort story writer, by and large. Some of his fables are marvelous in\na -Just-So- kind of way, and a few of the longer stories, novellas really,\nare very good. But if you're pinching pennies, skipping a Wolfe collection\nis not unwise.\n\n-alga" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Timothy Reilly", "address": "treilly at ozemail.com.au" }, "date": "2003-04-15T23:37:55+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Uther Uthers", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "alga wrote:\nAnd I don't think Wolfe is a very good short story >writer, by and large." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Some of his fables are marvelous in >-Just-So- kind of way, and a few of the\nlonger stories, >novellas really, are very good. But if you're pinching" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "pennies, skipping a Wolfe collection is not unwise." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I entirely agree, and am surprised I can't recall this point having been\nmade before on this list. Wolfe obviously likes writing short stories, but\nI don't think he's particularly good at it. And it's not because I don't\nlike short stories - I think Chekhov is marvellous. But I can't think of a\nsingle Wolfe short story that is truly impressive (except perhaps the\nDetective of Dreams, but even then...). His novellas and novels are a\ndifferent matter of course!\n\nTim" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "cilluff1 at optonline.net", "address": "cilluff1 at optonline.net" }, "date": "2003-04-16T21:00:55+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Uther Uthers", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I agree completely. His short stories are well written but nothing\nspecial, reminding me of the old saw about competence versus talent. Which\nis odd, because his longer work is so creative. But in fairness I've only\nread one short story collection by Wolfe and it wasn't the much ballyhooed\nIODDAOSAOS.\n\nOriginal Message:\n-----------------\nFrom: Timothy Reilly treilly at ozemail.com.au\nDate: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 09:37:55 +1000\nTo: urth at urth.net\nSubject: Re: (urth) Uther Uthers" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "alga wrote:\nAnd I don't think Wolfe is a very good short story >writer, by and large." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Some of his fables are marvelous in >-Just-So- kind of way, and a few of the\nlonger stories, >novellas really, are very good. But if you're pinching" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "pennies, skipping a Wolfe collection is not unwise." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I entirely agree, and am surprised I can't recall this point having been\nmade before on this list. Wolfe obviously likes writing short stories, but\nI don't think he's particularly good at it. And it's not because I don't\nlike short stories - I think Chekhov is marvellous. But I can't think of a\nsingle Wolfe short story that is truly impressive (except perhaps the\nDetective of Dreams, but even then...). His novellas and novels are a\ndifferent matter of course!\n\nTim" }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "To unsubscribe: send \"unsubscribe\" to urth-request at urth.net" } ] } ] }