Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 09:01:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tami Whitehead 
Subject: Re: (urth) Generic Considerations

 > That's the point.  Wolfe puts puzzles in to show
> that _the meaning
> is in the text_.  He believes very strongly in the
> truth of a text.
> The Truth.  The Text.  If the truth-value of every
> text is radically
> indeterminate, why believe?
> 
>  >--Blattid
> 

I rarely poke my head out, but have to agree with
Blattid, that Wolfe does indeed use puzzles and other
'tricks' to illustrate this deeply held conviction of
the Truth of the Text. 

In the discussion of other authors, I didn't see
Robert Graves addressed, but his viewpoint was
similar, and to an extent broader, in that in included
Truth in Texts not only of his novels and poetry, but
how he read other works, particularly those dealing
with ancient history or classical mythology. His take
on myth and history was contested largely by those who
take the 'social construction' theory--what the group
agrees upon as the interpretation is more valid than
what the writer was intending to convey, or worse,
that what the writer was trying to convey is
meaningless until and unless we as a society give it
meaning, or worth. Any interpretation is suspect until
ratified by a formless, shifting gerrymander type
group. Bleh! 

Paricularly in the Soldier books, Graves' influence on
Wolfe's work is 'in your face.' Arcane practices are
given a practical interpretation, names and words are
misused in the way they were misused *at the time*
illustrating just how misconceptions arose, and
outright manipulation of the facts and propanganda
machines of the Spartans and Persians take care of the
rest. Wolfe clearly has seen past the 'psychological
manifest' of the contemporary interpratation of myth
and history, making it not the dry study of Xenophon
and his horsemanship, nor a couch trip of social
psycho-analysis, but a living and breathing Life that
was Lived by Real People, complete with gods and
goddesses and wights and all manner of beasties that,
not as a type of zeitgeist, but as real entities with
their own agendas, lived in the world with men. 

So. An exercise in critical thought? A longing for the
return of impassioned scholarship? I have no way of
knowing why Wolfe feels this strongly and demostrates
this feeling in his works, but there it is. And I am
tickled to death that he does so, that his worlds are
complete and intact and completely open to us, if we
only look. Bless his pea-pickin' heart. 

razorkittee





__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com

--