Elementary

Jeff Wilson · 26 Aug 2005, 23:06 · from 2005-August.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Fri Aug 26 23:06:24 2005
Subject: (urth) Elementary
In-Reply-To: <BAY102-F247D8C1AD3F06E19EE760B86AA0 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY102-F247D8C1AD3F06E19EE760B86AA0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <431002D8.1050608 at io.com>

Chris wrote:

> Does this take that much agonizing? The fact that Gene Wolfe is popular 
> now is irrelevant, unless you're claiming that somehow Wolfe somehow 
> should have known back then that he would be as popular an author as 
> Vinge. Even if you assume he made that presumption, when you think about 
> it it would be a relative miracle for a book by Vinge or Wolfe to have 
> survived and made its way into a library on a planet circling another star.

It's a BIG library as described, and the locals could not hope to have 
produced enough writings of note in their debased state of 
civilizational devolution.

Given the political history also described, wholesale re-printing of 
English-language books from Earth could be a conscious culture war 
stratagem. The authorities depicted as never throwing anything written 
away, though they are fairly indifferent about keeping it up.

Some or all of the above may be a reflection of GW's experiences with 
his alma mater, complete with autocratic unformed authoritarians, 
neoclassical buildings plopped down in the middle of the wilderness to 
establish Anglophone civilization where former continental colonies had 
been, libraries crammed with books but relatively little care given 
them, even the lengthy evening sunlight during the play is to be found 
there. Oh, and the vivisection as well, lest we forget.

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

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