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| Is Cherryh Lighter? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 8 2016, 05:39 AM (1,641 Views) | |
| starexplorer | Jan 10 2016, 12:34 AM Post #16 |
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First Contact Assassin
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I think you've nailed a crucial point, K-ji |
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| smartcat | Jan 10 2016, 01:03 PM Post #17 |
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Much food for thought here. I am not going to do a long comment until I have given this more consideration. I find it interesting that my two favorite writers are CJ and William Gibson. Two writers who are completely unalike but each with a distinctive style and can write the pants off a subject! |
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| the mule | Jan 10 2016, 05:35 PM Post #18 |
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Paidhi-Aiji
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I would concede that possibly the Chanur books are fairly light in tone but in general what I love about the Goddess work is her way of writing that almost leaves the reader breathless, and the wonderfully political way that things can go from ordered and calm to all out chaos in about 10 seconds. Cherryh covers some seriously big themes, first contact, ongoing contact, how war and peace are waged, how aliens function. Much deeper than "Earthsea" or "New Sun" I have to agree that Gene Wolff is weird though :UFO |
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| Kokipy | Jan 10 2016, 07:01 PM Post #19 |
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As to Gene Wolf, I have struggled through many of his books and I ultimately disliked them all. I utterly fail to see the point or to understand why he is so highly praised. I am completely tone deaf to his work. |
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| BetYeager | Jan 10 2016, 07:48 PM Post #20 |
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Finally weighing in... The thing about Cherry's work is that her books are easy to read. It's easy to engage with the characters and with the action, and it is very possible to tear through them without having to put any serious thought into it. So in that sense they are light. What is defined as more "literate" fiction is typically much denser and more difficult to read. The serious topics are at the forefront and must be thought about in order to fully appreciate the story. But once you've recognized the Universal Truth or Political Statement, the story fits into the theme and proceeds to prove that it is correct. In contrast, when you stop and think about what you are reading in Cherryh's work, she hits on some very serious, very deep topics. For example, we've had a thread about the Chanur series that delved deeply into feminism, gender politics, and cultural norms as well as style of writing. So Cherryh is very complex and can be read and understood on a number of levels. It annoys me that good stories that are easy to read get pigeonholed as "light" and less worthy of serious consideration. I think this is why Wolf get characterized as "literature" and "serious" work. No one wants to be the first to proclaim that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes. |
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| Kokipy | Jan 11 2016, 01:41 AM Post #21 |
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Right on point, as always, Bet. And I do believe that Wolf is stark naked:) But I would love to hear from anyone who has a different POV. |
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2:33 PM Jul 11