Oakley Hall essay

[Otto]

"What is right and what wrong, and what a man's gotta do, for that
matter, become an intricate calculation of unarticulated loyalties.
The basis of the code of the West, then, is essentially the absence of
society. Yes, I can follow the importance of this void, of a sense of
right and wrong forged in a brutal world, one with few amenities and
no tradition except violence, a world wrested by force from the
Indians. But as the novel continued into its last 100 pages or so, it
became mired in terminal portentousness, and I found myself unable to
understand the motives and deeds of its actors. Is this guy going to
feel compelled to shoot that guy, or that guy this, or is this other
guy going to feel he's got to haul off and shoot one or the other or
both so there's no shooting between them? And, if so, why? And what
about Miss Kate Dollar , the whore with the heart of gold turned to a
cinder? Will she pull out her derringer and ruin the whole manly
business? I hoped she would."

Interesting article indeed, thanks!

Otto

2006/8/13, Paul Di Filippo <pgdf at earthlink.net>:
> Foax--I cut and pasted the entire article behind this URL and sent it
> in to the List, but it never arrived.  Perhaps bagged by a size filter.
>   In any case, for a discussion of WARLOCK, visit:
>
> http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/08/13/
> the_gnomic_gun_toting_code_of_the_west/
>
>