"You’re older than you realized. You can’t quite re-enter the human world. And for some people, the things they saw while they were away changed them forever."
I was thinking of Gary Paulsen's YA novel "The Hatchet", which is far less metaphysical.
Another recent alternate-Earth fair folk novel is Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries (and its two sequels). It's in the vein of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but with more of the stuff I liked (the academic feel, the otherwordly fae) and less of the stuff I didn't like (the war stuff).
I'd love to share this with my brother but he thinks the fairy that got me was a neo-f*scist who who enchanted me with seductive market slogans and Coleman Hughes clips, with a little God delusion on Sundays. So he probably won't read it.
Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight is a very unique treatment of the fairy story. The Otherworld setting works really well for Wolfe's cryptic, numinous symbolism. Even though there is a superficially legible "boy's adventure" series of events, there is to this day no firm agreement about what is even taking place or the nature of the protagonist.
Seconding Little, Big recommendation (amazing book) and adding the classic Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees and the disturbing/weirdly uplifting ending of Tanith Lee's book for teens Prince on a White Horse.
Fantastic articles! (This one and the NYT.) Really opened my mind to how to view the internet.
i loved this, as i did the original times piece. it does make me wonder, maybe, if one could regard AI as some kind of a familiar? who has agreed (for now) to do your will?
I had a darker view of the fairyland. I called it Dark Dorian.
"Welcome Dark Dorian.
The world at the image of the machine
God made man in his image. Tech is trying to make a double of you at your image. But tech companies are not God (who knew ?). They have a very special view of you: you only exist, to their eyes, through your interactions with them. This is your technological shadow, your Dark Dorian Gray model. A major difference with the picture of Wilde’s novel is that this model is not just a static record of your actions. It has an influence on how you access the world. Your social media feed is built around it. The model is also influenced by the behavior of others: it is not an exaggeration to state that it is a collective unconscious 2.0...."
Where can I find this turkle interview you talked about? I’m doing research on this topic.
I think it's in Life on the Screen. If not, The Second Self.
Thank you
"You’re older than you realized. You can’t quite re-enter the human world. And for some people, the things they saw while they were away changed them forever."
I was thinking of Gary Paulsen's YA novel "The Hatchet", which is far less metaphysical.
Gonna need your First Sight and your Second Thoughts.
Thanks for writing this article. I truly did learn something today because of you. Thank you again.
Another recent alternate-Earth fair folk novel is Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries (and its two sequels). It's in the vein of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell but with more of the stuff I liked (the academic feel, the otherwordly fae) and less of the stuff I didn't like (the war stuff).
I feel like you would enjoy the Eric Whitacre choral setting of The Stolen Child. Haunting and otherworldly!
“Satanic Triangle” smhlol
Excellent metaphor.
I used to be fond of cyberspace as Gothic space, a haunted internet, especially in the 1990s when panics swept the media landscape.
Re: drugs - drugs are not so different, they have also been seen as a gate to the otherworld. "Trip" metaphor is so common it has nearly become dead.
I'd love to share this with my brother but he thinks the fairy that got me was a neo-f*scist who who enchanted me with seductive market slogans and Coleman Hughes clips, with a little God delusion on Sundays. So he probably won't read it.
what the...!
Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight is a very unique treatment of the fairy story. The Otherworld setting works really well for Wolfe's cryptic, numinous symbolism. Even though there is a superficially legible "boy's adventure" series of events, there is to this day no firm agreement about what is even taking place or the nature of the protagonist.
interesting... I'll check it out!
One more reading recommendation: John Crowley, Little, Big; or The Fairies' Parliament. Magical novel from the early 80s.
thank you :D
Seconding Little, Big recommendation (amazing book) and adding the classic Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees and the disturbing/weirdly uplifting ending of Tanith Lee's book for teens Prince on a White Horse.
Fantastic articles! (This one and the NYT.) Really opened my mind to how to view the internet.
i loved this, as i did the original times piece. it does make me wonder, maybe, if one could regard AI as some kind of a familiar? who has agreed (for now) to do your will?
i wrote a little something on AI as djinn, i take a harry potter style syncretic approach...
i must have missed that one. i’ll find it! stoked to read
A+ love it. Consistently at the forefront of the Internet experience
thank you <3
You are more optimistic than I am.
I had a darker view of the fairyland. I called it Dark Dorian.
"Welcome Dark Dorian.
The world at the image of the machine
God made man in his image. Tech is trying to make a double of you at your image. But tech companies are not God (who knew ?). They have a very special view of you: you only exist, to their eyes, through your interactions with them. This is your technological shadow, your Dark Dorian Gray model. A major difference with the picture of Wilde’s novel is that this model is not just a static record of your actions. It has an influence on how you access the world. Your social media feed is built around it. The model is also influenced by the behavior of others: it is not an exaggeration to state that it is a collective unconscious 2.0...."
The rest is here
https://open.substack.com/pub/spearoflugh/p/dark-dorian?r=buw3d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Very interesting. Might add Lord Dunsany's now-largely-forgotten "The King of Elfland's Daughter."