Intelligent High Art Amongst The Geeks
Tuesday, 3 August 2010 15:17![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsThis Post Is Only For Those Who Truly Embrace The Ideal Of The Complete Liberal Arts and Sciences Education
After yesterday's post on I Will Derive, in which certain persons complained about the horrors of watching geeks dancing in an otherwise totally charming and intelligent video about Physics and the differential calculus, I thought I would further elevate the discussion of the arts amongst the geeks.
Metaphorically run, do not walk, over to the latest issue of Clarkesworld and read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
yuki_onna Catherynne M. Valente's wonderfully complex, intelligent, personal and most certainly high art geeky science fiction short story "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time".
Because it isn't just geeky science. It is a terribly personal tale, slipped into another's life. It is a reweaving of many of the great myths of creation with a tiny personal myth of creation -- in a way it makes the myths of some past civilizations more understandable. The squabbling and the petty jealousies of the gods made whole and plain. Along with the pre-baryonic universe and its ultimate thermodynamic heat death. I like that.
The Author's Lament -- Cut Short And Arrested
Sometimes, when one is reading a piece, the thought comes, "Oh lord, I can't write like this -- I cannot write anything ever this good." It's a natural thought, and one which probably needs to be nipped in the bud. Because I don't want every story in the world to be like Cat Valente's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time", certainly not my own stories, just as I don't want every story in the world to be like my "A Man In The Moon". Or "Giant Cicadas and Other Odd Indignities".
What the hell would be the fun in that?
So I have to remind myself that No, I Do Not Write Like Cat Valente. But that I can revel in the knowledge that Cat Valente does. And that is enough for me. (wry grin)
Dr. Phil
After yesterday's post on I Will Derive, in which certain persons complained about the horrors of watching geeks dancing in an otherwise totally charming and intelligent video about Physics and the differential calculus, I thought I would further elevate the discussion of the arts amongst the geeks.
Metaphorically run, do not walk, over to the latest issue of Clarkesworld and read
yuki_onna Catherynne M. Valente's wonderfully complex, intelligent, personal and most certainly high art geeky science fiction short story "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time".Because it isn't just geeky science. It is a terribly personal tale, slipped into another's life. It is a reweaving of many of the great myths of creation with a tiny personal myth of creation -- in a way it makes the myths of some past civilizations more understandable. The squabbling and the petty jealousies of the gods made whole and plain. Along with the pre-baryonic universe and its ultimate thermodynamic heat death. I like that.
The Author's Lament -- Cut Short And Arrested
Sometimes, when one is reading a piece, the thought comes, "Oh lord, I can't write like this -- I cannot write anything ever this good." It's a natural thought, and one which probably needs to be nipped in the bud. Because I don't want every story in the world to be like Cat Valente's "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time", certainly not my own stories, just as I don't want every story in the world to be like my "A Man In The Moon". Or "Giant Cicadas and Other Odd Indignities".
What the hell would be the fun in that?
So I have to remind myself that No, I Do Not Write Like Cat Valente. But that I can revel in the knowledge that Cat Valente does. And that is enough for me. (wry grin)
Dr. Phil
