Subject: (urth) Misogyny, Arthur, and G. Gordon Liddy

From: Peter Cash <cash at rsn.hp.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 17:32:57 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Well, Joel has _me_ convinced of Wolfe's misogyny. At the moment, I
can't think of a single really admirable woman in any of Wolfe's works,
nor of a case where a man has a satisfying long-term relationship with a
woman. Perhaps Wolfe is saying that men expect too much of women...but
that shouldn't really prevent the occurrence of positive female
characters.

I just finished CASTLEVIEW last night. I don't see why people say this
novel makes less sense than any of Wolfe's others. I mean, how much
sense do you expect Arthurian irruptions in downstate Illinois to make?
There were some puzzles, but all in all I thought I was able to follow
things quite well. (Of course, this probably means I totally missed
everything!)

Mrs. Shields is a good case in point for Joel's contention: she's a
glutton (thinks constantly of recipes), and seems to care for her
husband only inasmuch as he provides her with things (at one point, she
burbles, "I really love you!" when he agrees to let her use his car).
She doesn't seem to be unduly disturbed by her husband's death. The
daughter, Mercedes, seems nice--but that's no doubt only because she's
not a woman yet!

My absolutely favorite character in the book was G. Gordon Kitty. He was
a scream, and purrfectly likeable (but then he was a tom). When he
pulled out his "Browning Grand Pussance" I just about rolled off the bed
laughing. (Well, it's funnier if you're into guns: "Grand Puissance" is
the French name for the Browning High Power pistol...)

Does Wolfe have a fascination with G. Gordon Liddy? I seem to remember
him saying in an interview that the "North" character in THERE ARE DOORS
is actually G. Gordon.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist.   
                  (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein)    
        email: cash at convex dot com (sorry, spam prevention)

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From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 00:14:46 +0000

>daughter, Mercedes, seems nice--but that's no doubt only because she's

	Yes, and remember that when she tries to pray, all she can do is recite
recipes rather than the Lord's Prayer or the Rosary! But Wolfe is going to
say that, yes, she has her problems, but not necessarily any more than any
other character.

>the French name for the Browning High Power pistol...)

	Hey! Thanks for that!!

>him saying in an interview that the "North" character in THERE ARE DOORS

	That was my interview. He explained that he initially thought that Oliver
North was the same type of person as Liddy, but later decided he was wrong.
His perception of Liddy was of a machiavellian manipulator, which is pretty
much the face Liddy wore for many years. 

Nutria