Wolfe's brilliance or my denseness?

James Wynn · 21 May 2011, 23:59 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 18:59:53 -0500
Subject: (urth) Wolfe's brilliance or my denseness?
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On 5/21/2011 5:58 PM, Jason H. wrote:
> Did you know "Cas" was Dorcas right away?

Reading Wolfe is a very particular skill. I never recommend "The Book of 
the New Sun" as anyone's first Wolfe novel, but his other stuff is not 
much easier. It's just that their settings and language tend to be more 
comprehensible.
Wolfe's default approach to story-telling is sort of like this Penn & 
Teller demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2azeC57Fn4c

A simpler analogy is Bob Dylan's song "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of 
Hearts".

[Lily and 'Jack' are meeting each other behind the back of Lily's 
sugar-daddy, Big Jim, who is married to Rosemary.]

"No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin? there, ya couldn?t say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin? to the Jack of Hearts."

It only two verses later that we understand that when Big Jim is 
"standin' there", Rosemary is sticking a knife in his back. That's why 
she's "leaning" forward.

No one likes to be a patsy, so you learn to be paranoid on your first reads.

J

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