Digest whorl.v007.n018

Alice Turner · 03 Sep 1997, 22:29 · from whorl-v0007.mbox · original

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From: "Alice Turner" <al at interport.net>
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v007.n018
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 22:29:58
Message-ID: <whorl-v0007-0552 at digest.urth.net>
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Wombat,

> First, re: Seven American Nights and the egg: I believe that I have read
a
> description of Wolfe answering the question about which egg contained the
> hallucinogen, though I do not remember the specific answer. The
description
> of Wolfe's answer indicate that he seemed somewhat saddened by the fact
> that people felt they had to ask him; I sometimes suspect that Wolfe is
> upset by the degree to which we the readers attribute to him both
> infalibility and infinite cleverness. Generally, there are answers to any
> question we might have, and we just have to ask the text correctly.

I'm a little confused by this. Why should he be saddened? He writes puzzle
stories; we, the readers who like them (not a majority of the reading
public) puzzle them out and he should love the effort we put in. As an
author and a professional editor (I am also a professional editor and I
have some idea of what this entails), he was and is certainly knowledgeable
about the author's responsibility in how stories succeed in getting through
to readers. If he seemed saddened at how we +failed+ (especially of a group
like this), it seems a bit arrogant to me; it means that he was unclear or
too cryptic or that his editor was too distracted to straighten things out.

If, on the other hand, he was saddened by the general intellectual caliber
of the crowd at a convention, perhaps we should have sympathy.

-alga-

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