One Good Book

Chris · 02 Dec 2004, 00:15 · from 2004-December.txt.gz

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From: rasputin_ at hotmail.com (Chris)
Date: Thu Dec  2 00:15:05 2004
Subject: (urth) One Good Book
In-Reply-To: <BAY14-F29B33A3FCA2C42FF89C058F4B00 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BAY102-F6B762AA20563A43D2A6D786B00 at phx.gbl>

I've read Borski's book. He did some very good work with it, but it's hard 
not to be frustrated with it - especially if you don't agree with his 
interpretations. And a good portion of the time, I didn't. That said, he 
brings up all sorts of references in the books that often you won't even 
remember... and he cites them, which provides a great prod for the reader to 
go back and re-read that section of BotNS, which is always worthwhile.

So I'm somewhat torn: I think Borski's work should be supported, and I 
respect the work he's done, but on the other hand I have a hard time 
recommending it to read for its own sake. I guess what I'd suggest is that 
you should buy it if you are planning on re-reading BotNS, and you can use 
Borski's book as you go.

>But first, Dan'l.  I think you are right and if I was (and I was) obtuse, 
>it was my fault and was a result of the orgiastic rush to present the ideas 
>I had been sitting on for about two years.  Maybe I can clarify my point 
>better if I say that I believe Christianity to be a phenomenon that does 
>not escape the bounds of history.  So many things in human culture (like, 
>for instance, "humanism") cannot be explained outside of the actual 
>processes they exhibit.  This, of course, is part of my general critique of 
>the idea of transcendence.  To put it simply: if a thing is transcendent we 
>cannot know it.  If we know it has become immanent and thus has become part 
>of the "world" which implies partiality, prejudice (in Gadamer's sense), 
>limitation, and, finally, definition in terms of the world.  Even if there 
>is a God that at one time existed outside of the cosmos, the fact that we 
>can even speculate on it means that he must have joined the cosmos.  
>Anyway, to stay on point, Wolfe may accept the idea of transcendence but 
>that doesn't mean that it is justified.  No one can truly be "christian" in 
>the sense that "Christianity" implies unworldliness-- which cannot be 
>expressed (or known, I would argue).  I appreciate your comments, 
>especially since they helped me to clarify myself.
>
>And now, about the One Good Book.  For Wolfe, I think that tBotNS is the 
>framework from which he ironed out the other two series'.  As I said in my 
>other email, I interpret that novel (I will call the whole thing one novel, 
>since you did and I agree wholeheartedly) as a mythos toward gnosis and 
>restoration (which become one and the same-- salvation through knowledge, 
>the ultimate heresy in early Christianity).  The succeeding two novels 
>emphasize different aspects of the ascent-- like epicycles traveling around 
>their original.  The Book of the Long Sun is, I believe, a meditation on 
>the specific moment of knowing ("Patera Silk received enlightenment on the 
>ballcourt: nothing could ever be the same"), while the Book of the Short 
>Sun is concerned with the struggle to conform oneself with the knowledge 
>gained.  The Book of the Short Sun is also the most personal thing of 
>Wolfe's I've read since it concerns the struggle of a regular man to 
>conform himself to an impossible ideal (the ideal held in his book, though 
>not necessarily in Calde Silke).  God, while obviously the idea to which 
>all the heroes aspire, also remains curiously distant.  He remains always 
>the outsider (see above re transcendence).  I think that the Book of the 
>New Sun is definately Wolfe's one commanding book.  But, I like the Book of 
>the Long Sun better than any fantasy/sci fi. I've read that's not Wolfe, 
>Tokien, or Lewis, and I think that The Book of the Short Sun is utterly 
>fantastic (I am still reading Return To the Whorl, and that is impressing 
>me more than the other books in the series).  Also, we cannot forget about 
>"Fifth Head of Cerberus."
>
>I agree with you on Joyce.  For Chesterton, probably "The Man who was 
>Thursday."  Tolkien, yadda. Lewis, any one of the Chronicles of Narnia or 
>"Out of the Silent Planet" (not a fan of the other two space novels at 
>all). Proust, yadda. Borges "Ficciones." And it goes on.
>
>This is great stuff.  Has anyone read Borski's book yet?  I think I might 
>buy it for myself for Christmas.
>
>Dei, sive natura, give you good rest.
>
>eric
>
>
>
>A heretic is a man who sees with his own eyes.
>
>-- Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
>
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