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Old October 16th, 2016 #15
N.B. Forrest
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Location: Virginia, CSA
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Originally Posted by Alex Linder View Post
It's aimed to give an ordinary man an understanding of racialism, and it succeeds. The ordinary man can only tolerate so much philosophical thought, or historical review; he wants, as you say, action. Just this-then-this-then-this is what you find in nearly all detective fiction these days. At most in the very best writers, such as Chandler, you'd get a suggestive throwaway. But never any extended speculation, even to the extent of a single paragraph. I think Pierce calculates his mix effectively. Will be recording session #4 today.
The rather long-winded historical/philosophical debate passages (and the introduction of the Saul character, leading the Christian sheep with lights in his hair) caused me to stop reading when I tacked it several years ago, since I had already mulled those facts myself, but I can see that the parts that lay out Oscar's gradual awakening to the jew are important for likewise awakening the interested-but-skeptical White readers Pierce was trying to reach. Your reading of it makes the tedious parts un-tedious somehow. Good work.
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