Wintry thoughts on Wolfe

Adam Stephanides · 18 Feb 2003, 01:51 · from urth-v0302.mbox · original

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Wintry thoughts on Wolfe
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 19:51:10 -0600
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on 2/16/03 4:46 PM, Michael Andre-Driussi at mantis at siriusfiction.com wrote:

> Adam Stephanides, post-Valentine's Day, wrote:
>> Something else that contributes to my sense of Wolfe's bleakness is the
>> absence of love from his works.  Does any of his major novels have a
>> protagonist who is genuinely capable of loving another individual (as
>> distinct from compassion)?
[snip]

> It would be easier (or should that be "possible"?) to approach this if I
> had some examples of a few authors inside and outside of genre who write
> fiction about love (monolithic
do you mean monogamous?
> or otherwise).  Fictions that you find
> convincing.

Well, the paragraph you quote was triggered by my rereading Patrick
O'Leary's THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRD, which, while it may not be "about love," does
contain convincing depictions of love.  So do John Crowley's works.  As for
non-genre authors, none spring to mind immediately.  (Obviously, there are
many who've written about love, but none that I've read recently enough, or
recall well enough, to be able to say definitely that I find them
convincing.)

But I'm not sure why you need this information to "approach" my claim.  If
you believe Wolfe's protagonists are capable of genuine love, why not say
so?

--Adam

--=20

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