Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod

Craig Brewer · 11 Aug 2010, 15:32 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: cnbrewer at yahoo.com (Craig Brewer)
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:32:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod
In-Reply-To: <94C753843CC24501ACEFA3743D1C51E5@jill>
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	<5812D15F-800B-4971-83D8-F829E9D0CC15 at liftingfaces.com>
	<94C753843CC24501ACEFA3743D1C51E5@jill>
Message-ID: <922070.75966.qm at web37608.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

>> I want to believe that Mr. Wolfe himself would like to claim that the answer to 
>>every single riddle ever posited on this mailing list since it began is 
>>answerable, and >answerable in the text we're pondering.

>> 
>> Do you think he would agree? Do you agree?

Coming late to this discussion, but I have to say that I disagree to both. As 
much as his hard core fans (i.e., us) adore the puzzle side of his writings, I 
get the sense that Wolfe feels himself primarily to be a story teller rather 
than a maker of difficult narrative puzzles. (That image of himself as a 
fireside yarn-spinner at the beginning of Endangered Species has always stuck in 
my mind.) Even when there are puzzles, it seems that he wants them to serve the 
purpose of the larger narrative than to be there for their own sake. Too often, 
our own obsessions, mine included, seem to remove us from the story, making us 
focus on speculations more than the stories as he's told them. Other times, the 
focus on the hidden details makes us start to evaluate his stories as if the 
theology or philosophy or world-building is more important than the story 
itself. I wonder if Wolfe ever feels disappointed by our focus on what's implied 
rather than what he's written explicitly.

There have been plenty of examples where the puzzles *are* the story, of course. 
Fifth Head and Peace come to mind, obviously. But I don't necessarily think that 
they are the definitive way of reading Wolfe.

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