[Dragaera] Cool Stuff Theory of Litterature was: (RE: Steven Erikson (was:

[John Dallman]

In article <4979F25B.4040700 at newsguy.com>, mwojcik at newsguy.com (Michael 
Wojcik) wrote:

> (Note Mieville ran for Parliament.)

Not with any serious hope of winning. 

> But since I also believe in the unconscious and the hermeneutics of
> suspicion, I find the CSTOL too simplistic - I think authors often
> don't know themselves why they put certain elements into their work.

I have experimental evidence of that. From Gene Wolfe, no less. Wolfe 
thinks very seriously about what he puts into his work, and writes far 
more consciously than many. Back in the eighties, the Book of the New 
Sun had completed its publication and I was attending a University of 
London evening class in SF, taught by John Clute. We went at tBotNS 
quite seriously, for over a month of classes, and got quite a bit out of 
it. And since Wolfe was in the UK for a signing tour, and knew Clute, we 
had him along for an evening, and got to ask him questions. 

He wanted to maintain his mysteries, on the whole, and played a superb 
defensive innings. But I got one through him. At the start of the 
Citadel of the Autarch, Severian is musing from his future narrative 
viewpoint on the weird things he has seen in his life. He names several, 
such as the undine, and Arioch. "Arioch?" I asked. "Let me see that..." 
said Wolfe. He looked at it, thought for a moment, and admitted he had 
no idea of why he'd put that in, or what it was doing there. The name 
comes from _Paradise Lost_, incidentally; Moorcock lifted it from there. 

-- 
John Dallman, jgd at cix.co.uk, HTML mail is treated as probable spam.