Are old questions OK?

Scott K · 20 Oct 2006, 09:21 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: scott at skatemonk.com (Scott K)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:21:41 -0700
Subject: (urth) Are old questions OK?
Message-ID: <eb986fc38daae2c59b75cf56ba59bb5b at skatemonk.com>

Hi all-
   I only recently joined the list, having first waited until I'd 
finished "Return To The Whorl" to avoid any spoilers. I've chimed in a 
couple of times about this and that, the comic book version and 
whatnot, but have been shy about posing new questions which may have 
come up a million times before. I have come to the conclusion that, 
like in scuba diving, there are really very few truly dumb questions, 
though on a list like this they may have been discussed before ad 
nauseum. Therefore I feel emboldened to ask a few questions of my own, 
starting with (as a somewhat basic starting point):
-What's the general reception in these rarified Wolfe circles of the 
Borsky book, "Solar Labyrinth?" I found it an interesting read for the 
first few chapters, having skipped to areas I found of most interest, 
but on reading the whole thing through I'm dead set against some of his 
assertations, and thinking that he's seeing too much into everything 
for his own aggrandizement, i.e. "the Navigator was JFK." What? That 
seems to me the most silly thing in the book, though overall he brings 
up a lot of good points, but I've never seen the Wolfe series dissected 
and discussed by anyone before. I know the Urth archives go back a long 
ways but I'm not sifting through all of that at once. Ultan's place on 
a day pass! Most of the friends I've recommended it to had trouble 
getting through it, or they read it as straight sci-fi on the surface 
and didn't notice any of the finer details, mostly waiting for the next 
sword fight or monster, or whatever. I've just never heard it discussed 
much, but I feel I have a good foundation now in some of the book's 
basic mysteries, thanks in part no doubt to the Borsky book, but what 
do you all think of his work overall? I think he raises a lot of good 
questions but some of his conclusions are kinda crazy to the point 
where it seems that every minor character with a scrap of dialogue has 
a blood tie to Sev or the Autarch, or some secret circle that was never 
really mentioned in the text ("magicians"). So, let the flaming begin- 
comments, anyone? Besides, the misogyny streak is kinda starting to 
bore me and I never read Dr. Island, but thinking of picking up Peace 
and Doors...
-Scott K.
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