From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy@siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl) Re:Denial as a Literary Structure
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:14:07 

Patrick O'Leary wrote:

> While we shouldn't worship of the text, (Torah, Torah, Torah) I
> think we have to give Wolfe the benefit of a doubt. (In my
> considered opinion the man does not make aesthetic mistakes. He
> makes philosophical/ narrative choices which we may or may not
> agree with, may or may not like, may or may not be moved by. And,
> of course, he makes typos. Errors of a different order.)

Thank you. This was pretty much my point a few days ago when I 
suggested that we need to live with SHORT a while (I said a year,
others exaggerated it to 'years') before rushing to judge it as
a failure. 

If we've learned one thing about Mr Wolfe's books over the last 
twenty years or so, it's that they do not yield themselves to a 
single reading, or to quick analysis. We are still learning 
important things about 5HC, NEW, and (especially?) PEACE.

Given that, it seems to me that a book by Mr Wolfe which seems 
unsatisfactory on the first reading -- and, by the by, that was 
my reaction: I was disappointed by RttW -- should probably be 
shelved and read again some time later. (Certainly this has 
worked for me with CASTLEVIEW; I admit I can't answer all the
questions some have asked about it, but I feel confident that
they are in some sense answerable.)

Certain things have become much clearer to me about SHORT in 
the course of these discussions, most of which I've already 
stated in brief at one point or another. Thanks to this, I
think I'll be ready to reread SHORT much sooner than I was
ready to re-tackle PEACE or CASTLEVIEW. 

(I'm still not quite ready to revisit PANDORA, though...)

--Dan'l


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