Fallible Narrators

James Jordan · 11 Jun 2001, 09:14 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Fallible Narrators
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 09:14:14
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0816 at digest.urth.net>
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At 03:40 PM 6/10/2001 -0400, Rostrum wrote:

>I think part of what Wolfe is doing is this: If there are those who doubt
>someone so good as Silk could exist, or that he could really be
>enlightened by the Outsider, or that any god like the Outsider could
>really exist, then they are free to think that Horn embellished or was
>mistaken.  Perhaps Wolfe is being a gentleman; he doesn't insist that you
>accept the existence of God in order to enjoy his story.
>
>There is a sense in which telling a story from a third-person, omniscient
>viewpoint is cheating.

         Perhaps a slightly different take, which may be part of Wolfe's=20
motivation. Silk is Christlike, but he's not Christ. TBLS is like the=20
gospels, but it's not the gospels. Wolfe is a conservative Christian, so he=20
believes the gospels as originally written were "inspired and infallible"=20
and that they have been preserved accurately in the Church.  TBLS does not=20
have these divine attributes. Thus:

Gospels : TBLS :: Jesus : Silk

         With TBSS we move one step farther away from infallibility. TBSS=20
is not a second-order version of part of the Bible, but is the life of a=20
saint. But again, from a Roman Catholic standpoint, there is always the=20
question of what REALLY happened in the life of a saint. (Remember the=20
controversy a few years ago when the Vatican began to question whether St.=20
Nicholas ever really lived.) Thus, in the order of perfection and=20
infallibility:

Gospels : TBLS : TBSS :: Jesus : Silk : Horn/Narrator(s)

         Maybe such considerations played no part in Wolfe's thinking, but=20
they make a kind of sense, given what he has done in these two books.

Nutria


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