The Politics Of Gene Wolfe

brunians at brunians.org · 08 Jul 2010, 10:55 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: brunians at brunians.org (brunians at brunians.org)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 06:55:02 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
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You generalize well, Gwern.

I've always admired that in you.

I find little to argue with you besides that.

In any case, I never argue.

.


> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:24 AM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
>> This is an ingenious method to kill a zombie thread ("Appearance of
>> Inire"):
>> reintroduce an old zombie thread that has already resurrected itself 3
>> times
>> previously to flush it away. Presumably, the list has built up enough
>> antibodies to fight off "The Politics of Gene Wolfe" in short order and
>> then
>> both zombie threads are gone. We shall call this the Zombie Colonic.
>
> I was sure that I had, at some point, remarked that Wolfe's books
> seemed to be getting more political (or perhaps I should say,
> politically incorrect?) as he got older. However, that particular
> email was the best I could do in finding my previous comments to which
> my _Starwater Strains_ email was a reply.
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Sunanda <dhsunanda at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Have you read _Operation Ares_?
>> Perhaps an outlier, but definitely political.
>>
>> Sunanda
>
> No, never. (Nor have I read the collection of his Korea letters.) How
> is OA political?
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
>> 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.
>
> I disagree. Those protesters are equally pro-gun control. When was the
> last time you saw MoveOn.org and its ilk urge the expiry of the
> assault weapons ban? Who are gnashing their teeth over the recent
> Supreme Court decision but the same general set of liberals that worry
> about climate change and evil multinationals? And I mentioned the
> story that was just about the debasement of money - when was the last
> time you saw liberals worry about the coinage? (From reading the _New
> York Times_ opeds, their chief concern seems to be what rate of
> debasement/inflation is best for economic growth.)
>
> These aren't generic SF/libertarian fears.
>
> On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 4:49 PM, Jerry Friedman <jerry_friedman at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>>And Gwern is telling us that a story in /Starwater Strains/, which I
>> haven't read, depicts a future tyranny as disarming the public.  Lots of
>> people have written dystopias without ever mentioning laws on weapon
>> ownership.
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 2:18 AM, Rebecca Bushong-Taylor
> <rebeccabt01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I believe this is true.  Gene has told me that when they were younger,
>> he
>> and Rosemary would regularly practice throwing knives, in part as a way
>> to
>> keep the kids respectfully in line.  He strongly encouraged me to take
>> it
>> up.
>
> On Sat, Jul 3, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Matthew Keeley
> <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Great anecdote, and it rather explains the essay on the proper use of
>> throwing knives in Castle of Days...
>
> I too am entertained, but also a little perplexed. With Robert Jordan,
> who so far as I am aware has never thrown a knife in his life, the
> books are full of knife throwers. (In _Wheel of Time_, knife-throwing
> seems to be a standard skill, akin to swimming - it's more surprising
> when a character *can't* do it.) But with Wolfe, who is quite
> knowledgeable, knife-throwers are very rare. Offhand, I can't think of
> one!
>
> I guess we could say that SF and fantasy writers write what they don't
> know...
>
> --
> gwern
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