Jerry's link

maa32 · 17 Apr 2002, 05:58 · from urth-v0204.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) Jerry's link
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 22:58:07 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0204-635 at digest.urth.net>
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Hey Jerry, I wish you had never given me that link to that google group=20
"griping about Wolfe".  I read most of the threads because I wasn't used to=
 so=20
many people blatantly saying that Wolfe was no good!  They weren't just=20
claiming that he didn't appeal to them, but that he was a bad writer!=20
I really kind of got upset at a lot of what those guys were saying, so I fe=
el=20
like getting it off my chest to sympathetic ears. You guys can skip this if=20
you want - there is nothing earth shattering or important here.

I really wanted to slap some of those guys down - I think they really do=20
deserve to be called lazy and incompetent.  Holy crap.  Wolfe has never bee=
n=20
anything but wonderfully kind to me in his letters, and he responds with su=
ch=20
frequency that I feel bad about writing him back quickly for fear he will f=
eel=20
obligated to take time out of his schedule to address all the concerns of a=
n=20
ultimately unimportant young man. =20
I imagine all the hard work he puts into constructing a story that will rew=
ard=20
re-reading like few other texts out there with his labyrinth of clues and=20
careful research, and then these guys just call him "bad" because they=20
perceive some kind of social message that disturbs them or something. Maybe=20
they should return to the "choose your own adventure" genre, where they hav=
e=20
more control over the way the plot unfolds - if you get a bad ending or a=20
misogynistic message, you can start over and pick a new path.

And they keep talking about Severian as if his ideas were odd: I've lived w=
ith=20
that rhetoric all my life; my father is exactly like Severian, from the way=
 he=20
talks about women to the way he thinks about punishing people.  Don't these=20
people know someone like Severian? He's not that bad of a guy.  I thought h=
e=20
should have killed even more people when he had the chance.  He is too nice=
 in=20
some scenes, like sparing Agia in Claw.  I admit that not everyone can get=20
Wolfe, but just because you don't understand an author doesn't mean you sho=
uld=20
label them as a bad writer! =20
Severian is even nice to the brute beasts of the world.  I certainly wouldn=
't=20
have cared if Triskele lived or died.  The other day I had a dream about th=
e=20
Taco Bell Dog and it kept peeing on my leg.  I would give anything to destr=
oy=20
it painfully. Microwave? Perhaps someone elses' microwave, eh? Have they ne=
ver=20
met anyone with a streak of cruelty?  Don't they realize that all human=20
relationships involve pain and suffering?  Physically beautiful men and wom=
en=20
destroy those who seek their love every day with their "individuality" and=20
insistence on "choosing" the ones they want to love - it's inescapable in a=20
social system that desire will be subverted and someone will be hurt in alm=
ost=20
any public interaction.  Even saying no to a date is placing your own=20
"selfish" desires above those of someone else.  But it is necessary if you=20
want to have any control over your destiny. But it involves, if not cruelty=
, a=20
willful and confident statement that your desires are MORE IMPORTANT than=20
someone elses'.  Anyone who claims they have never been cruel does not=20
understand the world.  Forging an identity requires more cruelty and harm t=
o=20
the people around you than most realize.  Should people really be nicer to =
the=20
domestic pets of the world than they are to conscious human beings with rea=
l=20
desires?  We ignorantly torture people all our lives just by existing, yet =
we=20
love our domestic animals, and consider the desires of beasts as superior t=
o=20
the needs of humanity, needs which are reflections of the beastly desires w=
e=20
find so endearing in pets.  But humans feel real pain, mental anguish that=20
comes from retrospection. People talk about feelings and all that stuff; th=
ey=20
are really talking about chemical reactions like the stimulation of=20
phenylethylamine production through sexual attraction or arousal.  What is=20
cruelty but another aspect of that chemistry?
I guess I should be posting this over there.  Almost everyone here realizes=20
the universal application of the tortured souls that Wolfe depicts.
Hey, from this post can you tell why I'm a big fan of Wolfe's work?

Marc Aramini

--=20

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