The Wizard

Daniel Petersen · 02 Mar 2012, 15:05 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com (Daniel Petersen)
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 15:05:49 +0000
Subject: (urth) The Wizard
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Yes, thanks for that, James.  I'm not at all surprised to find Wolfe
referencing a 'pagan' myth and absorbing it into the 'myth' of Christ,
which he as a Catholic would take to be more primary.  It's one of my
favourite things he does in his fiction - and as you show, he's following
on from Lewis in this (you quoted one of my favourite passages from one of
my favourite essays by Lewis).  I had just thought I'd seen some here
making Dionysus the more primary allusion, but that could have been
careless reading and skimming on my part as I'm unfortunately unable to
give everything posted here a close read.

-DOJP

On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 2:27 AM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 2/28/2012 11:47 AM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
>
>> Then again, what I took to be some pretty obvious moments (e.g. wine and
>> bread rituals coinciding with a theophany of the Outsider in Short Sun),
>> some seem to perplexingly read as being mainly about referencing Dionysus
>> myths or what have you! So there ya go.
>>
>
> I don't think "mainly" a good term. The bread and wine are overt
> references the Eucharist. The man on the scaffold and the "fortunate man
> who was enlightened and possessed by the Outsider is of course Jesus. Silk
> ultimately becomes a Christian in the same way that Pevensies become
> Christians by their relationship with Aslan. Slik is also a figure of
> Aristaeus who was prophet of Dionysus. And C.S. Lewis (all of whose works
> Wolfe claims to have read) draws an explicit connection between Christ and
> Dionysus. The Dionysian references are pretty overt as well, and the
> cross-over is intentional. This shouldn't be confusing. If an author writes
> a story about a Christian founded on references to the tale of the "Three
> Little Pigs", it would not be a surprise that, say, the Church would take
> the form of a house made of bricks. That does not mean that the house of
> bricks is "mainly" a reference to Practical Pig's house.
>
> "The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of
> the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of
> legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens ? at a
> particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical
> consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when
> or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under
> Pontius Pilate....By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is
> the miracle.If God chooses to be mythopoeic?and is not the sky itself a
> myth?shall we refuse to be mythopathic?"
> ~ CS Lewis
>
> J.
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