Gene Wolfe is for Socialists

Matthew Knight · 20 Dec 2010, 02:23 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: jacobeiserman at gmail.com (Matthew Knight)
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 19:23:11 -0700
Subject: (urth) Gene Wolfe is for Socialists
In-Reply-To: <COL105-W18A266C8E7DB54A9969E7885180 at phx.gbl>
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Message-ID: <AANLkTi=AUDuXrCSiSoFtk0tH1YOggD57+KNdGBf+h6eQ at mail.gmail.com>

I'm with Pedro on this one.  I think the list's author is finding something
of value in 5HOC when viewed through a socialist lens, despite recognizing
vast differences between Wolfe's perspective and his own.  Here's my own
sweeping generalization that is likely logically unprovable: most good art
can be appreciated from a variety of angles, insofar as the art reflects
something true about life and the angles from which the art is viewed are
able to discern some kind of truth, even if distorted.



On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 7:31 AM, Pedro Pereira <domus_artemis at hotmail.com>wrote:

> I don't see why is it wishful thinking on the part of the blog author (it's
> not even the author, this is a list by Mielville for the
> blog site). Mielville didn't claim Wolfe was Socialist or that his work was
> socialist bent. What he says is this:
>
> Refering to the Fiht Head of Cerberus:
> *Wolfe is a religious Republican, but his tragico-Catholic perspective
> leads to a deeply unglamorized and unsanitized awareness of social reality.
> This book is a very sad and extremely dense, complex meditation on
> colonialism, identity and oppression.*
> **
> Now, everyone interprets Wolfe's work according to his own views, and that
> is pretty clear in this Urth List too. Mielville may certainly see the work
> as emphasizing a speculation on colonialism, identy and oppression (since
> those are possibly the things that most ring a bell to him and touch him)
> but nowhere do I see any hint that Mielville sees this work as "Socialist",
> as you seem to imply.
>
> Pedro
>
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