Prior Race On Blue And Green

Fernando Q. Gouvêa · 17 Dec 2007, 17:33 · from 2007-December.txt.gz

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From: fqgouvea at colby.edu (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Fernando_Q=2E_Gouv=EAa=22?=)
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:33:55 -0500
Subject: (urth) Prior Race On Blue And Green
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Matthew Groves wrote:

> Why doesn't Wolfe answer these sorts of questions?  I suspect one
> reason is that even his most straightforward response will be taken as
> evidence of some still less plausible hypothesis.  But I believe the
> main reason is that these are not *pertinent* questions.  By this I
> mean that you can posit that Urth/Lune = Ste. Anne/Ste. Croix =
> Blue/Green = Urth/Venus without changing what these novels mean.  This
> answer doesn't do any interpretive work.  So Urth/Venus can be
> Blue/Green if you want, but then much like the Whorl, you haven't
> really gone anywhere yet.

Hear hear!

Furthermore, the processes of creativity are complicated, and not all 
conscious. It's easy for readers to see recurring themes, settings, and 
motifs. In Wolfe, my list would include double planets, sacrificing for 
the love of a woman, men that are unusually strong, missing or unknown 
parents, the difficulty of being good and the temptation to justify 
one's actions as "unavoidable". Are they put in deliberately? I'm not 
sure even Wolfe knows.

Fernando

-- 
=============================================================
Fernando Q. Gouvea
Carter Professor of Mathematics
Colby College                     Editor, FOCUS
5836 Mayflower Hill               Editor, MAA Reviews
Waterville, ME 04901              http://mathdl.maa.org
http://www.colby.edu/~fqgouvea

Between the ages of seven and 12, I did nothing but study origami... and 
for what? Four years ago, in a Belgian bar, I folded Adolfo Cerceda's 
exquisite Peacock from a ten-dollar bill for a beautiful girl from Kiev. 
I recall Roger Harbin's marginal comment on this model in Secrets of 
Origami -- 'Now wait for the oohs and aahs' -- which, being all I have 
ever desired from an audience, made the palms of my hands ache when I 
first read it. Anyway, the girl reacted appropriately, I guess; she 
widened her eyes, she made a little O of surprise; then she flattened 
the note out and bought two beers. I still don't get it. I can look 
forward to underwhelming my grandchildren on my deathbed.
   -- Don Paterson, in The Blind Eye: A Book of Late Advice:

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