planetary problems

James Wynn · 28 Dec 2010, 21:27 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:27:15 -0600
Subject: (urth) planetary problems
In-Reply-To: <4D1A4B7E.2070704 at io.com>
References: <438330.86404.qm at web81402.mail.mud.yahoo.com>	<4D1A2670.2020003 at gmail.com>	<4D1A3423.9070902 at io.com>	<4D1A3B65.2010503 at gmail.com>
	<4D1A4B7E.2070704 at io.com>
Message-ID: <4D1A5633.6080604 at gmail.com>

>> James Wynn-
>> However, if Horn encountered a white rabbit with a pocket
>> watch who was late for an appointment and a little blonde girl chasing
>> him, or a detective in a hunter's cap who was investigating the Hound of
>> the Baskervilles, this would be a different _kind_ of story.
>
> Jeff Wilson-
> How about a scientist who plays God by performing forbidden 
> experiments in a castle by a lake, or a mechanical workman who has 
> traveled many leagues looking for a way to fall in love, or a 
> forgotten king of kings represented only by some ancient statuary in 
> some distant, uninhabitable corner of the world he once ruled?

All totally different. The first is an example "persons becoming myth" 
that I spoke of. The second is literary allusion: the author embedding 
literature into his narrative, not the characters escaping their 
narrative into another work. The third? Well, I don't think Wolfe 
considers that merely literature. That's just the equivalent of Severian 
going to Lake Diuturna-- (a real live lake that happens to also be in 
Wolfe's story, like putting Dracula in London.

u+16b9

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