DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending

James Wynn · 15 Jan 2003, 21:15 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at HotPOP.com>
Subject: RE: (urth) DOORS: The Hero, The Otherworld, The Ending
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:15:30 -0600
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Roy responding to Mantis:
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?

Crush butts in:
I'd say at this point, Wolfe enchantment by Graves' White Goddess is a
foregone conclusion -- trackable over several novels and series. So the
question is rather "What does Graves' White Goddess mean to Wolfe
considering his Christianity".

Soooo, here I go:

Wolfe almost always presents the Goddess stand-ins as generally in league
with his protagonists (in the Soldier series there's some ambiguity here).
In the Long Sun, the Goddess' aspect as Love (Kypris/Aphrodite) is the
Vironese/Pagan image of the Outsider/Christian God --- the image selected by
the Outsider for himself.

Now, consider that Wolfe himself came to Christianity by **first** falling
in love with his eventual wife, Rosemary.

Perhaps Wolfe believes that the true God drew him to Himself through
something so sublunary (note the pun) as romantic love. Perhaps that is the
story he is telling over and over through Graves' White Goddess.

-- Crush

--=20

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