Dionysus

Lee Berman · 08 Dec 2010, 09:15 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 04:15:12 -0500
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
Message-ID: <SNT123-W386F895693224700EE1FA8CF2D0 at phx.gbl>

>James Wynn: the "son of Thyone", is discussed or referenced at least four times in Return 
>to the Whorl. That's a big deal being made of the child of an extremely minor goddess.

>Gerry Quinn- Okay, I've looked up those passages.  Yes, Dionysius is referenced as the 
>son of Thyone. In fact, Horn/Silk accepts as plausible Hound's proposition that Dionysius 
>may possibly be the same as the Outsider.....This may be just a reference to the normal 
>process in which myths mutate and aspects of ancient gods become aspects of newer ones

Gene Wolfe has referenced the process of the origin of myth through the course of his entire
body of work. Are you suggesting he is just a hack who does nothing but pound us over the 
head with simple, trite concepts over and over? Many here think he is a profoundly complex 
author for whom unique meaning can be found in every passage of every book.

Just as a starter I'll suggest consideration of the principle David Stockhoff mentioned, 
"book as universe; author as god".  Wolfe doesn't just reference the origin of myth, he
uses it, mythologizing his own work and even his own life. This adds layers of hidden 
meaning which cannot be discerned by perfunctory reading or interpretation.

>...But it's a far cry from this academic analysis of gods to ascribe major 
>significance to ut and to draw conclusions based on possible symbols of 
>Dionysius.  Because every god has a million symbols.

No they don't. Every god has a much smaller number of symbols. It takes time and effort to
mentally collect and catalog them for a particular god, but it can be done. I don't think 
you can fully understand Gene Wolfe's work without that process. And never more true than 
for Dionysus, perhaps the most complex god in history.

>Ideas *are* easy. Rigorously worked out ideas that can stand up to criticism are not. I am 
>impressed only by arguments that can stand the heat of critical analysis.

Good point. On the other hand critical analysis is also easy compared to coming up with a 
rigorously worked out idea. Gerry, can we have some of your rigorously worked out ideas to
analyze?

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