Wolfe's Attitude toward his Readers

Jack Smith · 14 Aug 2010, 01:12 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: jack.smith.1946 at gmail.com (Jack Smith)
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:12:49 -0400
Subject: (urth) Wolfe's Attitude toward his Readers
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=S7q-sPQjFYkJqqwMe4hRF-udGGLebTDR=Fyyt at mail.gmail.com>

Lee Berman wrote:

And I suspect that you, David, like me, don't trust Gene
> Wolfe further than we can throw him. This is an important difference which
> creates different
> interpretations. I detect that Gene wolfe (interviews answers to the
> contrary aside) has a real
> streak of disdain for his readers. I actually think there is a conflict set
> up between reader and
> writer and, unlike some authors, Gene wolfe really doesn't want us ever to
> fully win.
>
> I say disdain because we are treated like dogs. That's what people do with
> dogs and a ball. They
> say, "here's the ball, doggie" then misdirect the poor creature, "over
> here, no here, no, here" and
> the poor dog's nose gets distracted in the feinted new direction over and
> over again. Perhaps
> Wolfe is trying to tell his readers to not get distracted like a dog. The
> bastard.
>

This is interesting.   I can see how someone might feel Wolfe has disdain
for his readers, but I don't think that's correct.    Instead, I think Wolfe
tries--through unreliable narrators and puzzles and ambiguity and lack of
information and narrative holes--to produce in his writings the experience
we get in real life.   In our own lives, we can never be completely sure of
the truth or people around us or ourselves.   So our author gives us partial
views and conflicting information and incomplete information.

I don't think there is necessarily one right interpretation to most of the
works, especially the longer ones.   I'm not convinced that all the
mysteries and puzzles in Wolfe have definite answers.   We're often supposed
to be puzzled and we can't be sure we've figured a book out, just as we
can't be sure we've figured life out.

-- 
Best wishes,
Jack
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