The Politics Of Gene Wolfe

James Wynn · 02 Jul 2010, 17:06 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:06:40 -0500
Subject: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
In-Reply-To: <4C2E1740.3060301 at verizon.net>
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	<4C2E1740.3060301 at verizon.net>
Message-ID: <4C2E1CA0.7050907 at gmail.com>

And what would one say if Wolfe wrote a novel about a heroic CIA agent? 
Or a heroic FBI agent hunting the hippie minions of the Storm King? That 
he's a big Nanny Statist?

On 7/2/2010 11:43 AM, David Stockhoff wrote:
> Exactly my thought. Dystopian government is an old SF theme. Depicting 
> evil government agents says nothing about your beliefs.
>
> James Wynn wrote:
>> >>I've read through most of _Starwater Strains_ now, and my 
>> initialbelief has hardened:
>> >>Gene's writings are definitely getting more
>> >>political. In his older works like _Peace_ or _Book of the New Sun_
>> >>(pre-90s), I didn't notice anything political, or at least,
>> >>contemporary. But in stuff from the last 2 decades? My suspicion has
>> >>become certainty.
>>
>> >Have you read _Operation Ares_?  Perhaps an outlier, but definitely 
>> political.
>>
>> Not an outlier, I think. "The Devil in a Forest" is fine unflattering 
>> deconstruction of Robin Hood as a hero who "robs the rich to give to 
>> the poor".
>>
>> For the most part, however, the examples given from "Starwater 
>> Strains" are seeing what one expects to see. You don't have to be a 
>> conservative/libertarian to imagine a dystopian government (ex. 
>> George Orwell). You don't need to be a Tea Partyer to wish well a 
>> revolution that will bring down the "big important gangs with suits 
>> and guns". That sounds like the communist/anarchist G-20 protesters 
>> in Toronto.
>>
>> u+16b9
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