Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 08:36:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jerry Friedman 
Subject: Re: (urth) catamites and narrators


--- James Jordan  wrote:
> At 08:01 PM 9/16/2002, Borski wrote:
> 
> >Among my many works-in-progress (most of which will probably never see
> light
> >of day), but promised to another venue, is an essay entitled "The
> Stained
> >Altar Boy: The Pederast as Villain in the Works of Gene Wolfe."
> 
> Good points, and there are other examples also. But I question your
> title, 
> since Wolfe grew up outside the Roman Catholic church. I doubt he had
> much 
> if any knowledge of this problem growing up -- though I cannot recall if
> 
> Louisiana was where he spent time as a youth, so he might have
> encountered 
> it by hearsay. At any rate, I would question whether he had altar boy 
> molestation in mind as he wrote these works -- as your title would imply
> to 
> most readers of your essay.

I think this problem has featured in stereotypes of the Catholic
church for centuries (see _Candide_), probably for over a millennium,
believed by many among both the knowledgeable and the ignorant.  Want
to read a joke?  I didn't think so.

-- 
Jerry Friedman

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