From: "Jim Henley" <jlhenley@erols.com>
Subject: RE: (urth) Fairy Tale logic
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1999 20:14:17 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: urth-errors@lists.best.com [mailto:urth-errors@lists.best.com]On
> Behalf Of Michael Andre-Driussi
>
> Now, as one reader who is obviously guilty of at least some of this
> "scientism," folks might think that I would be in disagreement
> with Nick's
> post--but I'm not, and I suspect that Nick knew that beforehand.  I agree
> with nearly all of it, and the Typhon/Piaton example is an excellent
> example, as I'll further comment upon in a bit.

I tend to read BOTNS in an SF context until I absolutely can't. But what
strikes me is how Wolfe communicates that the scientific habit of mind has
pretty much disappeared from Urth itself. The idea of verifying facts about
the world through controlled repetition seems alien to just about everyone
with the _possible_ exception of Fr Inire, and he's a bug-eyed space
monster . . .

Even simple classification seems somewhat negligent. Sev tells us he fills
the unused vincula tunnels with "a mixture of sand, loose stone, lime etc"
but never bothers to name the compound.

Best,


Jim
 ******************************************
"There will always be                                 Costello/
 a little larceny                                           Bacharach,
   in everyone"                                             "My Thief"


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