On Sep 18, 1:00 pm, Leigh Butler <leigh.but...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> [This is a slightly edited repost from my LiveJournal, which most of
> you probably do not follow. I thought the story was appropriate to
> share here, too, though.]
>
> Here's a story that, for some reason, I don't think I ever told on LJ
> or the newsgroup. I'm not sure why, but no matter. I'll tell it now.
>
Great story. Snip snip snip.
> He seemed... contented, to me. And by that I mean not just in
> emotional terms, but as an entire - outlook on life, I guess. What I
> have no doubt struck some as insufferable arrogance, came across to me
> as a relaxed self-confidence that needed absolutely no outside
> validation. Truly, an intensely annoying attitude, to those who see it
> as an affront to their own lack of security.
>
> This was a man who knew exactly who and what he was. He was a
> storyteller.
A grand tradition. The world needs more storytellers and fewer
authours.
> *****
>
> And now, he's passed.
>
> I'm sad that he died without fini****ng what must be called his opus,
> but I'm not sad that he started it and got as far as he did. How many
> of us will create so much in our own lifetimes?
>
> I'm glad I got to meet him. I'm glad I got to tell him that his books
> indirectly changed my life, by leading me to a strange new world
> called Usenet, and a group called rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan,
> where I made friends I still have today and will (I pray) always have,
> and went on adventures I never would have otherwise, and learned
> things that life ought to teach you but often doesn't.
>
> One may debate whether Robert Jordan's work may be considered art. I
> certainly had my issues with it, as did many others, even as we read
> and reread and discussed and made FAQs about it.
>
> The Wheel of Time may never be held up as a great classic of
> literature. But I'm not sure that's particularly relevant. The purpose
> of art, in my opinion, is to create *reaction*. It is supposed to
> affect the recipient in some way, whether that way be joy, awe, shock,
> laughter, sadness, fury - whatever. It should create discussion, it
> should move people to *feel* about it. It should alter the viewer/
> reader/listener's life, even if only in a tiny way.
More or less my definition as well. I think that makes The Wheel of
Time art, and pretty good art too.
I've come to regard the 'Western Canon' designation as a fancy way of
saying "old, but still work reading". If there's any interest in the
books at all in the next century, they'll end up on someone's classics
list. Beleive it or not, both Ian flemming and HP lovecraft are
published under the penguin classics lable.
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