From: BraveSaintCroix@aol.com
Subject: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v012.n057
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 17:08:28 EST

>Now a series of rhetorical questions:  At what point 
>does intentional obscurity on the part of an author become a self-indulgent 
>pretention that gets in the way of artistic expression?  How much do we 
>really love Wolfe because he's a great writer and how much because it's fun 
>to solve puzzles? Has Wolfe crossed the line from not giving all the answers 
>to creating texts that must be pored over by talmudic scholars rather than 
>actual readers of novels?  Is Wolfe writing for a smaller, and smaller 
>audience of  expert Wolfe-interpreters?  Discuss.

Wait. . . do I answer these rhetorical questions or not?  Well, you said 
discuss, so here goes:

>How much do we 
>really love Wolfe because he's a great writer and how much because it's fun 
>to solve puzzles?

This is the only question I really feel qualified to answer, because after 
finishing RTTW I've been wondering about it myself.  I read Wolfe because I 
love to read Wolfe.  The Short Sun and Long Sun, in my opinion, are his best 
works.  As for how obscure these books are, I don't know.  Most of the 
discussion here goes over my head, but I like to skim it and see what I 
missed and what I caught in my own reading of his novels.  Why do I like 
RTTW?  It's writen beautifully.  I love Silk.  I think he's the coolest 
character in any book I've ever read.  I love the way Wolfe weaves in his 
Christian beliefs (which I share) into his novels.  I like Oreb.  I love the 
Outsider.  I like being able to finish his books and sit back and really 
think about them, instead of having everything spelled out.  I like getting 
on this list after I finish and comparing notes. 

-Steve



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