/lit/ - Literature

>>13219472
Man there is a lot to unpack for this novel and it doesn't help that it was my first Wolfe novel.
>Did you like the book?
Mixed on this. The best parts were the first 100 pages and the last 100 pages with the unfortunate slog being the mental institution arc which held the most answers for the puzzles scattered throughout the book. I didn't really understand the Joe Bazooka arc, I mean how are Walsh and North the part of Green's psyche?
>Wolfe is usually heavy on theme and allegory, what did any of it actually mean? (Story as a whole or individual characters)
I think Wolfe was talking about the absurd nature of love and how it varies from species to species so that ordinary men to can seen as valued commodities but I do think that's a very simple and predictable interpretation and something that autistanon covered pretty well on his blogpost. A slightly more interesting (imo) thought would be about one's nature with the Universe and how the different people present in one world can create a wholly unique culture. The first (or second chapter) where he goes to the shop to look for maps and he finds locations to reach Heaven, Hell and Disneyland could be a reference to Green living in a hyper-realistic world. But I think Wolfe suggests that worrying whether the world is real or not doesn't really matter. What matters whether you will feel fulfilled and in the end Green makes it his life mission to chase after Lara. I do think the world where Lara lives is the imagined one where noticeable elements that our MC takes from his own world embellishes the fictional world (think about the WC and the guy who takes him to the hospital on Dr. Nilson's orders.
>What was the point of the tale our protagonist told Tina?
I may be way off than what Wolfe intended the tale to mean but I believe it was about being honest to yourself. Either that or about the importance of trust and companionship between two people can lead a rewarding life. But here's where I get confused because in the Bible, Joseph is the son of Jacob and was sold by his brothers to slavers only to become power and soon forgive his brothers for their "mistake", so I assume there is something important I'm missing.

Cont.