DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending

Roy C. Lackey · 15 Jan 2003, 07:47 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 01:47:14 -0600
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mantis wrote:
>THERE ARE DOORS is, I think, an interesting take on the work of Robert
>Graves: the most Gravesean work Wolfe has ever done.

Oh, no! Not you, too! <g>

>William North is trying to overthrow the government, if not the whole
>civilization.  He is all about Power.  He seems to be trying to create a
>masculinist movement or subvert existing ones in order to shake things up.
>His taking on the name "William" may be an attempt on his part to lure the
>goddess into pistol range.  More than a rabble-rouser, more than an
>iconoclast, he may be a wannabe goddess-killer.  (Thus the battle seen by
>Graves between the goddess and the usurping thunder god.)

You have noted Graves' position vis-a-vis earth and sky; needless to say,
Graves' sympathies were with the goddess. Wolfe's, needless to say, are with
the other side. That being so, North, the wannabe goddess-killer, would be,
in effect, in the service of the God of the Bible. Green, following the
goddess, would be lusting after the very sort of figure that the Old
Testament prophets were forever railing against.

That would make North a good guy, Green a bad guy, in Wolfe's cosmology,
wouldn't it? How can this reading square with Wolfe's known religious views,
and his own opinion that THERE ARE DOORS is his best book?

-Roy

--=20

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