# A Mania for Conversations *The Whorl list — 4 messages, 2 voices, 10 Jun 2001* > 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. --- ### Michael Straight *10 Jun 2001, 15:48* Horn's statement about having a mania for recording coversations struck me as a key insight into Wolfe's writing. Could it be that Wolfe's eliptical style is largely based on a preference for writing conversations rather than describing actions? I'd have to do some more reading with this idea in mind, but I have the impression that quite a lot of the gaps in Wolfe's narratives come when a conversation is interrupted by some event, and we skip the event for another conversation in which someone may or may not describe or allude to the event itself. -Rostrum *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun. --- ### Steve Strickland *10 Jun 2001, 15:53 · follows Michael Straight* I took Horn's statement as a bit of self-deprecating humor on the part of Mr. Wolfe. No doubt as a result of the extensive narrative sections in the latter volumes of Long Sun, Wolfe received more than a few comments like, "Can't you write anything but dialogue?" or "Can't you pepper the dialogue with a little more description?" (And I'm sure he received less critical observations regarding the same.) As I see it, Horn's statement is Wolfe's playful nod to the critics (while playfully placing the blame on the narrator-character, Horn.) Very cute. Imperator ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael Straight" > To: > Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001 2:48 PM > Subject: (whorl) A Mania for Conversations > > Horn's statement about having a mania for recording coversations struck me > as a key insight into Wolfe's writing. Could it be that Wolfe's eliptical > style is largely based on a preference for writing conversations rather > than describing actions? I'd have to do some more reading with this idea > in mind, but I have the impression that quite a lot of the gaps in Wolfe's > narratives come when a conversation is interrupted by some event, and we > skip the event for another conversation in which someone may or may not > describe or allude to the event itself. > > -Rostrum > > > *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun. --- ### Steve Strickland *10 Jun 2001, 15:53 · follows Steve Strickland* I took Horn's statement as a bit of self-deprecating humor on the part of Mr. Wolfe. No doubt as a result of the extensive narrative sections in the latter volumes of Long Sun, Wolfe received more than a few comments like, "Can't you write anything but dialogue?" or "Can't you pepper the dialogue with a little more description?" (And I'm sure he received less critical observations regarding the same.) As I see it, Horn's statement is Wolfe's playful nod to the critics (while playfully placing the blame on the narrator-character, Horn.) Very cute. Imperator ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Michael Straight" > To: > Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2001 2:48 PM > Subject: (whorl) A Mania for Conversations > > Horn's statement about having a mania for recording coversations struck me > as a key insight into Wolfe's writing. Could it be that Wolfe's eliptical > style is largely based on a preference for writing conversations rather > than describing actions? I'd have to do some more reading with this idea > in mind, but I have the impression that quite a lot of the gaps in Wolfe's > narratives come when a conversation is interrupted by some event, and we > skip the event for another conversation in which someone may or may not > describe or allude to the event itself. > > -Rostrum > > > *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun. --- ### Michael Straight *11 Jun 2001, 09:14 · follows Steve Strickland* > On Sun, 10 Jun 2001, Steve Strickland wrote: > As I see it, Horn's statement is Wolfe's playful nod to the critics (while > playfully placing the blame on the narrator-character, Horn.) So what you're saying is that lots of people have noticed this already, but I didn't get it until Wolfe pointed it out himself. -Rostrum *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun. ---