Urth Net
Long Sun - worth it? etc
Timothy Reilly · 30 Mar 2000, 04:08
· from urth-v0028.mbox · original
This is the message as the crawl holds it, before anything
here touched it. What the conversation shows has been through ingest: transfer
encodings decoded, attachments dropped, quote markers repaired, and the
archiver’s ? resolved into quotation marks and dashes. Those
repairs are judgements and some of them are wrong, which is what this page is
for. Email addresses are obscured here as they are everywhere else on the site,
so it is before our repairs rather than byte for byte.
From: "Timothy Reilly" <treilly at ozemail.com.au> Subject: (urth) Long Sun - worth it? etc Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 14:08:22 +1000 Message-ID: <urth-v0028-0875 at digest.urth.net> X-Urthmirror-Source: http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0028/0875.shtml MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF9A51.68C172C0" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF9A51.68C172C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Re my posting on difficulty in even getting started on the Long Sun = books because of the writing style some months ago in urth.v028.n079 and = replies in n080-n082, I took the advice given and read OBW - and loved = it. So then I went back and made myself read all the Long Sun books in = one hit (assisted by mantis' booklets). I still think Long Sun is very disappointing. The third person style of = diction chosen is flat and to my mind rather boring, anaesthetising = Wolfe's linguistic genius (so on display in OBW and TBNS). The ideas, = while interesting, did not require four volumes to present. As for the = meticulous plotting suggested by Alice Turner, I can only say this was = not evident to me - on the contrary I had the impression that unlike = TBNS the series was not fully written in advance, if only because Exodus = is twice as long as the three preceding volumes. Nor did much of the = plotting seem to lead anywhere - to take one random example, what was = the value of the long (and boring, at least to me) chapter on the visit = to the talus factory in Exodus? Anyway, tastes differ, but there's no reason to be hagiographic of = everything produced by Wolfe on this list - if we weren't all great = admirers we probably wouldn't be here. There is simply no comparison = between (say) TBNS and Pandora by Holly Hollander, even though they = share the same author. We shouldn't be afraid to speak our minds when = we think something's not up to scratch, as has also been suggested on = this list about Strange Travellers recently (which I haven't yet read, = but I tend to like Wolfe's work less the shorter it gets - my favourite = short stories of his are Seven Amercian Nights and The Detective of = Dreams, both on the long side for shorts). OBW (which I'm rereading now in preparation for In Green's Jungles) is = wonderful, I'm pleased to say. The language is utterly beautiful, and = its ruminations on gods (existence of or otherwise), family, mortality, = sex and love struck me as perhaps the most personal thing Wolfe has ever = written. Indeed it seemed to me to be full of premonitions of death and = a desire by Wolfe to end his writing career on a high note (not that I = have any idea about his health I hasten to add). Finally, does Wolfe have a thing about brothels or what? Featured = prominently in 5HC and the Long Sun series, and also in TBNS, especially = Shadow. Where does this interest come from I wonder? Korean War? = Or...? ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF9A51.68C172C0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2014.210" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT size=3D3>Re my posting on difficulty in even getting started = on the=20 Long Sun books because of the writing style some months ago in = urth.v028.n079=20 and replies in n080-n082, I took the advice given and read OBW - and = loved=20 it. So then I went back and made myself read all the Long Sun = books in one=20 hit (assisted by mantis' booklets).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3D3>I still think Long Sun is very = disappointing. The=20 third person style of diction chosen is flat and to my mind rather = boring,=20 anaesthetising Wolfe's linguistic genius (so on display in OBW and = TBNS). =20 The ideas, while interesting, did not require four volumes to = present. As=20 for the meticulous plotting suggested by Alice Turner, I can only say = this was=20 not evident to me - on the contrary I had the impression that = unlike TBNS=20 the series was not fully written in advance, if only because Exodus is = twice as=20 long as the three preceding volumes. Nor did much of the plotting = seem to=20 lead anywhere - to take one random example, what was the value of the = long (and=20 boring, at least to me) chapter on the visit to the talus factory in=20 Exodus?</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Anyway, tastes differ, but there's no reason to be = hagiographic of=20 everything produced by Wolfe on this list - if we weren't all great = admirers we=20 probably wouldn't be here. There is simply no comparison between = (say)=20 TBNS and Pandora by Holly Hollander, even though they share the same=20 author. We shouldn't be afraid to speak our minds when we think=20 something's not up to scratch, as has also been suggested on this list = about=20 Strange Travellers recently (which I haven't yet read, but I tend to = like=20 Wolfe's work less the shorter it gets - my favourite short stories of = his are=20 Seven Amercian Nights and The Detective of Dreams, both on the long side = for=20 shorts).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>OBW (which I'm rereading now in preparation for In Green's Jungles) = is=20 wonderful, I'm pleased to say. The language is utterly beautiful,=20 and its ruminations on gods (existence of or otherwise), family, = mortality,=20 sex and love struck me as perhaps the most personal thing Wolfe has ever = written. Indeed it seemed to me to be full of premonitions of = death and a=20 desire by Wolfe to end his writing career on a high note (not that I = have any=20 idea about his health I hasten to add).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Finally, does Wolfe have a thing about brothels or what? = Featured=20 prominently in 5HC and the Long Sun series, and also in TBNS, especially = Shadow. Where does this interest come from I wonder? Korean=20 War? Or...?</DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_000B_01BF9A51.68C172C0-- *More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/
An unofficial mirror of a public mailing list · about & removal requests · download the archive · before the list · original archive at urth.net