_Dhalgren_: Scathing Towards Women? and a few ?'s about Sev

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 23 Oct 2006, 21:40 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 14:40:04 -0700
Subject: (urth) _Dhalgren_: Scathing Towards Women? and a few ?'s about
	Sev
In-Reply-To: <C1627C9E.481D%ishmael at drizzle.com>
References: <1f7617370610230944q5edab657nf9eb4277ba005feb at mail.gmail.com>
	<C1627C9E.481D%ishmael at drizzle.com>
Message-ID: <1f7617370610231440y35ed7932k4d04353395885fe9 at mail.gmail.com>

James,

I disliked "Urth" at first, for much the same reasons you suggest. I thought
it, well, _unnecessary_.

And perhaps it is unnecessary: but thanks to others on this list (especially
Alga, whose absence in recent times I greatly regret), I reread it and was
far more impressed. It does explain much that the tetralogy proper leaves
only suggested; but it also adds new questions, and indeed seems to
introduce some paradoxes, points that are quite hard to resolve both with
itself and with _tBotNS_.

One possibility, of course, is that _Urth_ isn't written by "the same"
Severian (I will do no more than put it in quotes, so as not to spoil
things for those who have not yet read it) who wrote the _Book_, but
I find that unsatisfactory on a number of levels...

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open
sewer and die.
  - Mel Brooks

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