Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v010.n049

From: Alice Turner <akt at attglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 22:22:25 +0000

Rat rote:

> Clute does like Wolfe and has done some good work. But he's really hostile
> to Wolfe's religious beliefs, as you are, O Slima, but unlike you, he
seems
> not to want to deal with them as they are actually found in the books.

A base canard, O Water-Hog! (A) we do not know what Wolfe's religious
beliefs actually are, as he is coy on the subject. (B) I *love* religions.
Especially dead ones.

-slima

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---

From: Alex David Groce <alex_groce at gs246.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 1999 14:16:16 +0000

>beliefs actually are, as he is coy on the subject. (B) I *love* religions.

Now, now, Alga.  Wolfe is coy, but he's not all that coy--it's pretty easy to
infer from interviews, fiction, and essays that Wolfe would be described
religiously as Roman Catholic, generally orthodox, with a strong Chestertonian
flavor and some odd but not, so far as I'm aware, unprecedented, beliefs about
the Greek gods, mysterious black dogs, etc.  Those comments (as in the 
McCaffery interview) about "I'm... but that doesn't mean what people may 
imagine" tie in pretty well with Wolfe's statement elsewhere (interview with
Nutria, if I'm not mistaken--I could look it up) that most "Christians" know
very little about Christ's life or actual theology.  I'd say that for a 
modern person who isn't professionally engaged in talking about his religious
beliefs, Wolfe's made his fairly clear.  

Back to Clute, I think the thing here is that despite some bad sentences, he
doesn't get around to saying anything very insightful about OBW or New Sun.
Thus, for old Wolfe hats it's a ho-hum review, and it doesn't (IMO) make it
clear enough to new Wolfers that while you COULD start here, and it's a fine
book, you probably would be better off not doing so, because it will make Long
Sun a lot less fun.  I think Clute's religious disagreements are part of why
he always seems to take every Christic-figure in Wolfe to literally be the
Second Coming.  :)

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (agroce+ at cs.cmu.edu)
Ph.D. Student, Carnegie Mellon University - Computer Science Department
8112 Wean Hall (412)-268-3066
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~agroce