Denial as a Literary Structure

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 20 Apr 2001, 10:14 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) Re:Denial as a Literary Structure
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:14:07
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0674 at digest.urth.net>
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Patrick O'Leary wrote:

> While we shouldn't worship of the text, (Torah, Torah, Torah) I
> think we have to give Wolfe the benefit of a doubt. (In my
> considered opinion the man does not make aesthetic mistakes. He
> makes philosophical/ narrative choices which we may or may not
> agree with, may or may not like, may or may not be moved by. And,
> of course, he makes typos. Errors of a different order.)

Thank you. This was pretty much my point a few days ago when I=20
suggested that we need to live with SHORT a while (I said a year,
others exaggerated it to 'years') before rushing to judge it as
a failure.=20

If we've learned one thing about Mr Wolfe's books over the last=20
twenty years or so, it's that they do not yield themselves to a=20
single reading, or to quick analysis. We are still learning=20
important things about 5HC, NEW, and (especially?) PEACE.

Given that, it seems to me that a book by Mr Wolfe which seems=20
unsatisfactory on the first reading -- and, by the by, that was=20
my reaction: I was disappointed by RttW -- should probably be=20
shelved and read again some time later. (Certainly this has=20
worked for me with CASTLEVIEW; I admit I can't answer all the
questions some have asked about it, but I feel confident that
they are in some sense answerable.)

Certain things have become much clearer to me about SHORT in=20
the course of these discussions, most of which I've already=20
stated in brief at one point or another. Thanks to this, I
think I'll be ready to reread SHORT much sooner than I was
ready to re-tackle PEACE or CASTLEVIEW.=20

(I'm still not quite ready to revisit PANDORA, though...)

--Dan'l

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