[Dragaera] Mary Karr to David Foster Wallace

[Eugene Zaretskiy]

On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Kenneth Gorelick <pulmon at me.com> wrote:
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> Sent from my iPhone
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> On Aug 21, 2012, at 5:32 PM, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:
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>>
>>
>> From: "Kenneth Gorelick" <pulmon at me.com>
>> To: "Dragaera List" <dragaera at dragaera.info>
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 2:16:44 PM
>> Subject: [Dragaera] Mary Karr to David Foster Wallace
>>
>> . One time when he told her that he put certain scenes into his fiction because they were “cool,” she responded: “That’s what my f--king five year old says about Spiderman.”
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>> I'm with the 5-year-old. Spiderman is pretty cool.
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>> Majikjon
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> Just thought i would provide some dialog between a leading literary light and his poet-muse (from this week's Newsweek)

Oh, I had assumed you had posted the exchange because of skzb's "Cool
Theory of Literature", inspired by Gene Wolfe. He talks about it in
this interview with Strange Horizons:

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030203/brust.shtml

Relevant excerpt:

"CO: The Vlad Taltos series is probably your best-known work. I feel I
must ask: why an assassin? Was it simply born out of your "Cool Theory
of Literature?"

"SB: Yep. Or produced it. I dunno. I think Vlad is cool. I like
hanging out with him.

"CO: For those who might not know: what is this theory, and when did
you come up with it?

"SB: The Cool Stuff Theory of Literature states that all literature
consists of whatever the writer thinks is cool, and the reader will
enjoy the work to the degree that the reader and writer agree about
what's cool -- and this functions all the way from the external
trappings to deepest level of theme and to the way the writer uses
words. I came up with it when I had to do an interview for Locus and
hadn't enough sleep the night before, so I had to invent something
interesting to say. Its Godfather is Gene Wolfe and some advice he
gave a writer when judging a writing contest. I heard the advice and
it got me to thinking. Most of the things Mr. Wolfe says get me to
thinking. Why aren't you interviewing him?

"CO: Well, uh. . . Mr. Wolfe's work, as far as I'm aware, doesn't
contain flying reptiles with a penchant for sarcasm. . . .

"SB: Man, couldn't he do a helluva job of it though, if he wanted to?"

... I've always loved this quote because Gene Wolfe and Steven Brust
are my two favorite authors, and I figured they couldn't be more
different. The knowledge that one was influenced by the other helps me
understand that.

Also, I think Gene Wolfe may have been reading, because he released
The Knight in 2004 (interview was 2003), which features a sarcastic
sidekick in the form of Mani the talking cat. As much as The Knight is
one of my favorite Wolfe books (heresy, I know), I like Loiosh more.

Which incidentally gets me to wondering about the witch/familiar
relationship. Mani could (and did) leave Able because he's not a
familiar, just a sidekick. Can Loiosh leave Vlad? Not if he wanted to
(the books make it clear that'll never happen) but if he had to, for
whatever reason. And for that matter, Vlad never seems to consider the
effect his actions have on Loiosh or Rocza... it's as if by being his
familiar, Loiosh is basically assumed to be stuck with Vlad, for
better or for worse. I mean, Vlad asks Loiosh for advice sometimes,
but routinely ignores it. I get that Vlad looks at Vlad like a father
of sorts (see: affectionate use of the word 'boss') but if my father
constantly put my life in danger whilst ignoring my advice, I'd get
the hell outta there. Probably says something about both of us, that.
But I'm wondering if being a familiar prevents this, physically,
mentally, or psionically.

EZ

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-- 
EZ