From: "James Wynn" 
Subject: Re: (urth) Tut, tut, and a little history
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 08:56:58 -0500

Andrew gives an honest personal opinion (which is what I've noticed people
usually do around here, but suddenly some people have gotten very sensitive
and simultaneously thick):
I thought of [Winters Tale] while I was reading the LB discussion here -
specifically the New York stuff. I liked it when I was a youngster, but I
couldn't finish it when I tried it again a couple of years ago - kind of
flatulent and self-indulgent, though some of the set-pieces were nice.

Crush responds:
Flatulent? No, definitely not. Self-indulgent? Only to the extent that he
attempted to completely indulged his imagination, which Wolfe is also guilty
of. The difference is that Wolfe does not back away from where his
imagination leads him, while Helprin seems to have consciously done so.

As for the Delany/Baldanders connection, I'm still not sure what it is. Is
it the castle? Well, I think that's just a rationalization of the fairy-tale
Giant in a Castle motif. Wolfe has introduced a Giant in a SF story. Very
cleverly. Just as he introduced Vampires, Ghosts, Frankensteins, and
Werewolves into the Long Sun. I've only seen pictures of Delany, he didnt'
look like a big man to me. But I'm no Delany-expert and Blattid (the reputed
expert) has yet to pipe in.

--- Crush



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