Wolfe's

David Wells · 10 Sep 1997, 09:19 · from whorl-v0007.mbox · original

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From: David Wells <adw at ovum.com>
Subject: (whorl) Wolfe's
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 9:19:00 +0000
Message-ID: <whorl-v0007-0573 at digest.urth.net>
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

>    Now, "Wolfe is not trying to convert anybody." Hmmm. Well, that's goin=
g=20
to
>depend on what you mean by "convert." In "The Detective of Dreams," a
>stealthy invasion of the gospel is presented as the corrective to tyranny.
>I think that's pretty much what is going on in both the Severian and Silk
>narratives also, and elsewhere. Sure, that's just how Wolfe looks at
>things. But, when a Christian communicates his ideas and worldview, that
>CAN be called "evangelism" in some broad sense, no?

One thing I, as an atheist, like about Wolfe is that he leaves room for=20
interpretation.
To me, Crane's explanation of Silk's encounters with the Outsider are=20
plausible.
Just as theists have told me they dread reading science fiction by authors=20
they
know to be atheists - in case the author decides to dive into some=20
sub-Von-Daineken
scientific explanation of the nature of God in the final chapter - I=20
approached
BoTLS with some apprehension in case Wolfe decided it was time he did a
C.S.Lewis and beat us over the head with an unambiguous Christian message.

In fact, of course, he didn't. I like this, not just for selfish reasons bu=
t=20
because I
think it makes for more interesting fiction.

newt

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