And, yes, total disinterest in the ramifications of the stories' conceits. I have a particular problem with "Hell Is the Absence of God" in that respect, since I think (and this might be my liberal bias, in truth) that society under those conditions would bear little or no resemblance to the way he writes it, which seems to be mostly contemporary society with that tacked on.
"Story of Your Life" nearly made me cry too. But the one about dividing by zero is a particularly egregious example of how his characters are completely unsympathetic (if not just awful), so that the story's conceit is robbed of impact. Mathematics is untrue! Oh the horror! (And, actually, okay, I just don't buy that particular conceit. Mathematics isn't untrue.)
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-24 01:39 (UTC)And, yes, total disinterest in the ramifications of the stories' conceits. I have a particular problem with "Hell Is the Absence of God" in that respect, since I think (and this might be my liberal bias, in truth) that society under those conditions would bear little or no resemblance to the way he writes it, which seems to be mostly contemporary society with that tacked on.
"Story of Your Life" nearly made me cry too. But the one about dividing by zero is a particularly egregious example of how his characters are completely unsympathetic (if not just awful), so that the story's conceit is robbed of impact. Mathematics is untrue! Oh the horror! (And, actually, okay, I just don't buy that particular conceit. Mathematics isn't untrue.)