[Dragaera] Mary Karr to David Foster Wallace

[Kenneth Gorelick]

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 22, 2012, at 10:48 AM, Eugene Zaretskiy <eugene.zar at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Kenneth Gorelick <pulmon at me.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Aug 21, 2012, at 5:32 PM, Jon Lincicum <lincicum at comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 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.”
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'm with the 5-year-old. Spiderman is pretty cool.
>>> 
>>> Majikjon
>>> 
>> 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

That is EXACTLY why i posted it!