Comments on: The Whig interpretation

By: cathy

cathy — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 14:48:15 +0000

Scott, you might want to read the Stephenson interview in today’s Salon where he states that he still considers himself a science fiction author (and the book review listed right after says he’s mutated from a science fiction author to an historial one.) I’m about 1/2 through Quicksilver, due to the fact that I now have a 2 year old and my concentration isn’t what it used to be. Hope to finish it by the time the last volume comes out!

By: roger

roger — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:06:25 +0000

I’ve always found the idea that in the market, no man is a duke or a vagabond, terribly amusing. Anybody who looks at those markets sees one thing—credit. And credit, for the individual purchaser, was all about character and connections. To pretend that markets are about the eternal present of a currency is one of the more peculiar forms of phallogocentrism.

By: roger

roger — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:05:55 +0000

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 22:30:53 +0000

OK, so The Confusion is the second book of a trilogy starting with Cryptonomicon, and Quicksilver is the first book of a new trilogy, is that it? I don't want to get 800 pages into a book and still be worrying how it fits in with the first volume....

By: Scott Martens

Scott Martens — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 22:13:57 +0000

I suppose this once I have to allow the possibility that Whig history and SF might mix, despite my own remarks a few days ago, but I reserve the right to define Stephenson out of SF. His last few books seem to be begging for it. Either way, I guess this means I ought to actually pick up a copy of Quicksilver.

By: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 20:00:29 +0000

Hmm. Well, I was disappointed by the lack of Wadham scenes in Quicksilver, but also by the lack of even the vague waving-at-an-ending you might expect from a first book in a trilogy. So Confusion actually sounds better…

By: Doctor Memory

Doctor Memory — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:24:44 +0000

he continues to succeed in carrying off the difficult task of taking economic history seriously while maintaining an entertaining narrative. That’s nice, I guess. Has he learned to write an ending, a believable female character, dialogue between male and female characters, or a love scene not worthy of Bulwar-Lytton yet? Yes, I’m bitter about having bought Cryptonomicon in hardcover, why do you ask?

By: Doctor Memory

Doctor Memory — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:24:23 +0000

By: Henry

Henry — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 18:05:32 +0000

Well, The Confusion is midway through a trilogy, so it’s a bit of a slingshot ending, as you’d only expect. We have to wait for The System of the World before we really find out if he’s managed to make the conceptual breakthrough of Proper Endings.

By: Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 17:52:43 +0000

Rumour has it that Confusion is the book where Stephenson shows that he has learned how to write an ending. Is this true? I feel disinclined to take the plunge, and my copy remains unopened, until I know one way or the other what to expect…