Too literal on everything?

James Jordan · 03 Jan 2002, 22:29 · from whorl-v0013.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Too literal on everything?
Date: Thu, 03 Jan 2002 16:29:43 -0600
Message-ID: <whorl-v0013-whorl.v012.n180.2 at digest.urth.net>
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At 10:31 AM 1/3/2002 +0000, Andy wrote to Marc:

>I mean primarily the Green/Blue thing, but it has applicability elsewhere.
>
>The question about whether Green and Blue are Lune and Ushas or even St An=
ne
>and St Croix in literal truth is irrelevant.   They are figures, archetype=
s,
>of something inside Wolfe.      Perhaps he had a dream once.

         I don't think they correspond, save they each is a duality that=20
invites reflection. Lune is green in anticipation of the Green Man, where=20
Green is green in a primordial and fallen way. They are at opposite ends of=20
the temporal/eschatological spectrum. In other words, Lune relates to Urth=20
eschatologically, while Green relates to Blue protologically. The two=20
worlds in *Fifth Head* are tyrant and slave, exploiter and exploited.
         The fact that each pair is joined as a pair, somehow, has=20
something to do with society. Humans need to relate to abos with kindness,=20
not exploitation. Humans on Blue must also redeem somehow the inhumi of=20
Green -- Horn/Silk makes a start of this on Green and on Blue, and the Book=20
of Horn will carry forth his story and that programme.
         I think Lune is just kind of up in the sky, in the heavens, an=20
image of Yesod in a way. If the humans of Urth could ever learn to rule=20
their own little world, they might grow up to rule a universe like Briah,=20
and become like the sub-angels of Yesod -- when they have become Green Men.
         But I don't think these double planets are supposed to BE the same=20
places (obviously not), nor that they mean the same things in the three=20
novels.

>It just seems to me that Wolfe is playing it by ear and sometimes has no
>clear idea of what is going on himself.    He has these massively mythic
>figures and he combines them and recombines them at his whim.    He relies
>on instinct.   Sometimes he is really writing about a sort of dreamspace.
>Sometimes it is literal.  But always it is the mythic import, the moral
>meaning, that counts, and worrying about things like can inhumi actually
>swim through space is not relevant.
>
>If Wolfe wants them to, they will.
>
>I am not criticising your attempts to pick up clues.   That is part of the
>joy in reading Wolfe.    But I will note that if you start looking at
>anything with a number tagged on to it as a clue you are sure to  be misle=
d.
>Wolfe is never *quanitative* in any meaningful way.    His universe is too
>dreamy and  fluid.

Hmm. Not sure about this. Wolfe rewrites his big hypernovels several times,=20
and I think he works to make them internally consistent. The problems are=20
(a) that his "universe" is bigger than the modern secular universe, with=20
angels (fallen and unfallen), ghosts, a living God, prophets and prophetic=20
dreams, etc.;  (b) that his narrators definitely have "limited omniscience"=20
and may even be deceptive at points;  (c) that there are correspondences=20
between myths, archetypes, earlier events, and present events; (d) etc. But=20
as a trained engineer, Wolfe has surely figured out how the inhumi get to=20
Blue. If he makes mistakes in the area of science and engineering, they are=20
accidents, not the result of writing a dreamscape. Or so it seems to me.

Nutria

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