Whorl post re:Heresy and Wolfe's Audience

James Jordan · 21 Feb 2001, 08:51 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Fw: Whorl post re:Heresy and Wolfe's Audience
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 08:51:28
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0319 at digest.urth.net>
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At 03:52 PM 2/20/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>At 11:34 AM -0500 2/19/01, BMeyer7 at aol.com wrote:
>
>  >Has Wolfe crossed the line from not giving all the answers
>  >to creating texts that must be pored over by talmudic scholars rather
>  >than actual readers of novels? Is Wolfe writing for a smaller, and
> > smaller audience of expert Wolfe-interpreters? Discuss.

         Wolfe has written this way, often, since his career began. His=20
early short story "The Changeling" is about as confusing as anything he's=20
ever written since. We discussed it at length on the Urth list a couple of=20
years ago, but I'm still confused!
         I do think that Wolfe shoots himself in the foot a bit by piling=20
up too many complications. He seems genuinely frustrated when people don't=20
"get" what he's writing about, such as seeing Severian as a kind of=20
antichrist instead of seeing him as a "Christian figure" slowly climbing=20
out of a horrible background. I imagine he'd be frustrated at those of us=20
who don't understand that at the end of BoSS it's All Horn, or All Silk, or=20
Still Both -- whichever it is. But, he's really got no one to blame but=20
himself.
         But, hey, it's a fact of the modern era that there is a wide=20
separation between folk art and fine art. In Bach's day, the common man and=20
the educated man could both delight in the same fine art music. But by the=20
20th century, most people aren't going to groove to the music of Messiaen,=20
Shostakovich, Webern, or Frank Martin. But I do, being a musician and all.
         Traditional SF lies on the folk/popular side of things, but not=20
Wolfe. He's definitely on the fine art side.
         So, consider how you approach fine art. You don't have to=20
understand everything to enjoy it. You can really enjoy Beethoven's Fifth=20
Symphony, even if you don't realize that every movement uses the same=20
da-da-da-DAAA musical motif, and that virtually every other melody in the=20
whole piece is a transformation one way or another of that motif. You don't=20
have to understand a Bach fugue to enjoy hearing it, for your ear will=20
carry you. Similarly, even with modern art music, if your ear likes the=20
ambience of the music of, say, Messiaen, you can enjoy it at that level=20
without studying out all the complexities.
         The same is true of Wolfe. If you enjoy the writing, the=20
characters, etc. -- enjoy the trip as it were -- you don't have to figure=20
out everything. Still in all, however, I do think Wolfe frustrates his=20
readers more than he needs to -- and I say this because, as I wrote above,=20
he himself seems frustrated when they don't "get it."
         FWIW.

Patera Nutria


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