Subject: (urth) single parent families

From: b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 10:24:44 +0000

As a BotNS fanatic I have noticed a complete absence (I think, any 
exceptions?) of "normal" two parent families in the series. All the child 
characters have either one or zero parents to interact with.  The closest we 
see to an intact nuclear family is Casdoe's, but of course her chapter is 
titled "the Widow".  From my lesser familiarity with his other works, I 
think this trend might extend to the greater Wolfe universe but I'm not 
sure.  Anyone else have thoughts on this?

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:28:10 +0000

> sure.  Anyone else have thoughts on this?

H'mmm.

It's certainly true of 5HC -- #5 has only Maitre, the shadow-child
doesn't have much of a paternal presence (vague memory, y'know),
and VRT's mum vanished years ago.

It's true of Patera Silk, who had no "present" father.

It's true of PEACE; Weer's parents are both alive during his
childhood but noticeably "absent."

Arthur Ormsby's family situation prior to falling into the Seven
Worlds in TWK is ambiguous at best; it _seems_ that he's
being raised by his older brother Ben.

The biggest exception seems to be Horn's happy household
on Blue: both parents are there to raise the kids, at least until
he wanders off to find Silk.

--Dan'l

-- 
I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.
                        -- St Teresa of Avila
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer

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From: Tristan Davenport <tristan_davenport at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 18:49:06 +0000

b sharp wrote:

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I haven't read everything of Wolfe's by any stretch of the imagination, 
either, but you seem to be onto a pattern.  Parent-child estrangement 
happens for just about every reason possible in the Book of the Long Sun.  
The only nuclear family we really see -- the gods don't count because Typhon 
is dead/in storage for most of the book -- is Horn and Nettle.  But they 
don't have children until the very last chapter.

In There are Doors a nuclear familie is impossible:  men die shortly after 
having sex.

In the few Wolfe short stories I've read that involve children, absent 
fathers (and often mothers) seem to be the rule.  The Island of Doctor Death 
(single mom with a revolving door policy on boyfriends), The Death of Doctor 
Island (children are institutionalized), The Eyeflash Miracles (boy travels 
alone, but meets a stand-in father figure).

It seems that the father stand-in is an equally common pattern:  Patera Pike 
for Silk, Severian for Little Severian, Latro for Io (though he later has a 
romance with her, if I remember right??), perhaps Dr. Death for the boy in 
that story...

I don't have any analysis of this, but the trend is definitely present in 
what I've read of Wolfe.

~Tristan

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From: DhSunanda at aol.com <dhsunanda at aol.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 16:11:17 +0000

> Re: (urth) single parent families

La Befana (short story) has an "ideal" two parent + two kids + incoming 
grandmother family. With only a six-legged alien as a neighbour.

The War beneath the Tree is a slow-burning horror story in a perfect 2p+1c 
family.

"Pandora" by Holly Hollander is a novel about a 2p+1c family too. 

Those three from memory.

But memory can be suspect.

Sunanda

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From: Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 20:49:41 +0000

Well, only children are another of Wolfe's themes that he's mentioned in 
essays - I can't refer to the originals, but they are quoted in Wright's 
book, "Attending Daedelus" - given that he was an only child.

If we're going to do a survey of this, though, I think we should focus 
mainly on the novels. I don't think anyone's mentioned the odd family 
situation of Art Ormsby yet.

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jun 2006 21:22:55 +0000

On 6/8/06, Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I don't think anyone's mentioned the odd family

Ahem.

--Dan'l

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From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 06:40:53 +0000

> grandmother family. With only a six-legged alien as a neighbour.

Not quite; they mention an expectant couple next door.

"Paul's Treehouse" has Paul living in the tree behind his parents' house.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >