May 2014 Wolfe interview in _Technology Review_

Gwern Branwen · 28 Jul 2014, 15:30 · from 2014-July.txt.gz

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From: gwern at gwern.net (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 11:30:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) May 2014 Wolfe interview in _Technology Review_
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	<53D649D9.5000009 at colby.edu>
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On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 4:40 AM, Mo Holkar <mo at holkar.net> wrote:
> Given Wolfe's preoccupations, it seems likely he is reading this as
> referring to the crucifixion, which Christ spends in the company of two
> thieves; and after three days he is returned to life.

It's hard not to read _Island of Dr Moreau_ as a twisted Garden of
Eden scenario: a tropical paradise isolated from the rest of the
world, overseen by a benevolent creator, who raises up animals into
men who think and reason and have 'knowledge of Good and Evil' and try
to give in to the temptations they face such as predation. Of course,
Moreau is merely human and so it's doomed to go worse than the
original Garden of Eden. I'm far from the first to make that
comparison, and Wolfewiki remarks in the connected story "The Island
Of Doctor Death And Other Stories"
http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Stories.TheIslandOfDoctorDeathAndOtherStories
that

> The real role that Dr. Death is playing in Tackie's mind is that of the creator (and thus to some extent the deity as well). This is supported in the first big exchange in the book between Ransom and Dr. Death, where Ransom asks the doctor if he has made the human-animal hybrids populating the island. Dr. Death replies with a comparison to the Garden of Eden [which is a significant link to The Death of Doctor Island also], and draws the parallel: "I am God and Nature is Adam". As for the identity of the creator in Tackie's life, it is of course Tackie himself, with his love of the book so intense he is making the characters come alive.

On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 9:02 AM, Fernando Q. Gouvea <fqgouvea at colby.edu> wrote:
> It's a very interesting interview, much less cagey than usual for Wolfe. The
> straightforward "He's a ghost" about Weer, and even more the statement that
> Marsch "knows he's not a real Earthman, but he's trying to talk himself into
> believing that he is".

Yes, I was struck by that too. Maybe he's too tired to be as playful
as he used to be.

-- 
gwern
http://www.gwern.net

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