literary analogy

maa32 · 25 Feb 2002, 20:16 · from urth-v0202.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) literary analogy
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 13:16:42 -0700
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I was just sitting around reading Borges' Selected Non-fictions when I came=20
across his review of Eberhard's chinese fairy tales.  Does this sound famil=
iar=20
or what?!

"The problem is simple.  The European fairy tale, and the Arab, are all=20
conventional.  A ternary law rules them .... The Chinese Fairy tale, howeve=
r,=20
is irregular.  The reader begins by finding them incoherent.  He thinks tha=
t=20
there are too many loose ends, things that don't come together.  Later -=20
perhaps suddenly - he discovers why these gaps exist.  He realizes that the=
se=20
vagaries and anacoluthons imply that the narrator totally believes in the=20
reality of the wonders that he tells.  Reality is neither symmetrical nor=20
schematic." (Borges 183).

an anacoluthon is a sudden shift in direction like "Good coffee.  Thank God=20
for Fidel Castro" or "I should kill you, but I have a cricket game to play."

Does that sound like one of Wolfe's novels or what? Peace, Short Sun,=20
Cerberus, etc.

Also, Wolfe once quoted Chesterton to me, saying that "Life is a million=20
little detective stories" or something similar. =20
I think these two ideas, one of the Chinese Fairy Tale and one of Life bein=
g a=20
detective story, certainly inform us on Wolfe's artistic aesthetic (or at=20
least help us to think about how we should go about reading his texts).
Marc Aramini

--=20

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