From: David_Lebling@avid.com
Subject: (urth) Borges and Vance
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:58:50 



Alex David Groce writes of Borges' influence on Wolfe:
<<Borges is also always looming over Wolfe's work ... "Funes the Memorius" and
"The Circular Ruins" are obvious ones.>>

I'd like to add, as a less obvious one, also from _Ficciones_, "The Approach to
al'Mutasim."  This is a  story about a pulp genre (mystery) novel which
eventually concerns the search for a messiah-like figure.  It is a work with
many levels, but one of them is a meditation on the importance of mystery (or
perhaps the unattainability of truth) in fiction.  One part of the story
concerns a revised edition of the book in question, in which all the mysteries
are revealed, producing a much inferior work.  At another level it is about
religion, and subtle hints, and many other bits and pieces (including a
planetary, um, Indian adventure) which are quite lupine.

But then, all Wolfe fans are Borges fans already, right?

Also,
<<Jack Vance is the real center of science fiction's literary influence of
Wolfe.>>

Couldn't agree more.  However (as mantis has pointed out elsewhere), there is
quite a contrast between Vance's picaresque, areligious, sometimes amoral heroes
and Wolfe's tormented, sometimes unknowing seekers after God.  To be honest,
Sev's behavior is not unlike that of a Vance hero; he just agonizes over it
more.

But then, all Wolfe fans are Vance fans already, right?

(A sad parallel between Borges and Vance is that Vance is now blind or nearly
so.)

     Dave Lebling
     (aka vizcacha)



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