The Author and the Iron Men

Michael Straight · 04 May 1999, 08:48 · from urth-v0026.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) The Author and the Iron Men
Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 08:48:04
Message-ID: <urth-v0026-0086 at digest.urth.net>
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On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Nicholas Gevers wrote:

> Ori, you guffaw at my implication that God and Author operate
> similarly. But surely they do: if an overtly religious author like
> Wolfe creates an imaginary future world and populates it with
> characters who enact deeply complex moral and spiritual dramas, he is
> operating very much in the manner of a Creator God (or, if you like,
> Demiurge); and his technique of narration (subliminal and subtle,
> teasing, testing, simultaneously merciful and cruel) is a metaphor for
> how he believes our universe was created and structured.

On the other hand, see "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" where the Author
get's his comeuppance for taking that metaphor too seriously.

-Rostrum


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