Yes he is! No he isn't! Yes he is...

James Jordan · 20 Jan 2003, 18:30 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Yes he is! No he isn't! Yes he is...
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 12:30:30 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0301-2718 at digest.urth.net>
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At 09:29 AM 1/19/2003, you wrote:

>By his own account, Wolfe is not entirely
>orthodox in his Catholicism. I know about some of his individual quirks and
>eccentricities, but by no means all. Contributors to this list sometimes
>say, "Wolfe is a Catholic and therefore he believes such and such," or
>"Wolfe is a Christian and therefore believes this thing and that." When I
>read such assertions, I'm usually sitting there mumbling, "Maybe," and
>"Possibly!"
>
>For the record, my guess is that "Westwind" and "The Detective of Dreams"
>are among the most explicit fictional expressions of Wolfe's personal fait=
h.
>But I could be wrong...
>
>Nigel

Well, since my interview and conversations around that time centered on=20
Wolfe's religious beliefs, I can chime in a bit. Wolfe sees himself as a=20
thoroughly orthodox RC, but with a bit more thrown in. He has said things=20
in interviews like, "I'm an RC, but don't think you know what that means"=20
-- which is certainly true enough these days. It does not mean "I'm RC, but=20
on a quasi-heretical fringe." It just means most people don't really know=20
much about RC.
         I think he's a kind of post-Vatican II conservative. That is, not=20
a reactionary, but not a liberal at all either. He's happy to say that=20
protestants like you and me are true brothers, not hellbound apostates. And=20
he holds to theistic evolution, of a Lamarkian sort. He's read Aquinas, but=20
I think the main religious influences on him are probably C.S.Lewis and=20
Chesterton. He's a fan of both, and claims to have read everything by them.=20
That's pretty "mainstream Christian."
         "Westwind" and "Detective" often come up on short lists of his=20
personal favorites. And they're very orthodox.
         Where Wolfe might be "off" from Catholicism, in general, would be=20
in secondary areas, such as his belief in the reality of ghosts. But when=20
he writes a story about Lilith as Adam's first wife, it's pure fiction.=20
Wolfe's Catholicism lets him toy with a (created) neoplatonic universe, as=20
in the Urth cycles, but as a Calvinist I can also toy with that worldview=20
in fiction also. How much such toying reflections what Wolfe actually=20
thinks might be so is another question.
         But I don't think Wolfe strays far from the tradition in his=20
personal beliefs.
         FWIW.

Nutria


--=20

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