Question for Chris Wraight

[Welcheren]

Does anyone have an idea as to how I might establish whether Chris Wraight drew ideas from Soren Kierkegaard for writing Wrath of Iron? It would help me tremendously for a project I am working on.

[apologist]

Probably best to contact him. He's on Twitter, runs his own eponymous blog, and you could also try the old-fashioned way of writing a letter to his publisher :)

[Welcheren]

I'll search for this blog. I once contacted Guy Hayley to thank him for Death of Integrity, but since then I opted to quit Twitter.

[Welcheren]

Neither the blog nor Twitter offer a means of contacting CW directly. Bummer.

[Marshal Rohr]

Which parts of Kierkegaard’s work do you think Wraight drew from? If I remember correctly he is a professor and wrote a book about Rousseau and another about trade.

[Ciler]

Neither the blog nor Twitter offer a means of contacting CW directly. Bummer.

Then it means he doesn't wish to be contacted directly. Writing to him via GW seems like the best solution.

[b1soul]

Doesn't Wraight reply to fans on Twitter or is that his blog?

[aa.logan]

He’s nicely interactive on Twitter

[bluntblade]

If you get an answer, do let us non-Tweeters know :)

[Welcheren]

Gotcha! I re-activated my Twitter profile and Chris was willing to reply. Turns out that he did not rely explicitly on Kierkegaard.

 

I have been reading Kierkegaard's thoughts of anxiety, the aesthetic, ethical and religious life. It occurred to me that a case could be made that Space Marine Battle novels explore aspects of existential angs. Consider the depiction of the Iron Hands in Wrath of Iron. Of course, Chris Wraight works with existing codex lore, but I thought that the obsession with mechanised augmentation and the consonant excision of weakness could be read as reflecting angst.

 

But since 40K is not considerd canon Speculative Fiction, it would be very hard to persuade an academic journal to publish such musings, unless the authors admits to working with philosophical ideas.

[MegaVolt87]

Gotcha! I re-activated my Twitter profile and Chris was willing to reply. Turns out that he did not rely explicitly on Kierkegaard.

 

I have been reading Kierkegaard's thoughts of anxiety, the aesthetic, ethical and religious life. It occurred to me that a case could be made that Space Marine Battle novels explore aspects of existential angs. Consider the depiction of the Iron Hands in Wrath of Iron. Of course, Chris Wraight works with existing codex lore, but I thought that the obsession with mechanised augmentation and the consonant excision of weakness could be read as reflecting angst.

 

But since 40K is not considerd canon Speculative Fiction, it would be very hard to persuade an academic journal to publish such musings, unless the authors admits to working with philosophical ideas.

 

He very may have drawn on such a work. Keep in mind authors are under no real obligation to admit things like that though. However a non answer, dodging the question is also just as telling as a confirmation or denial. If you asked in person such questions, you could probably work it out or if they answered via video etc. 

[Welcheren]

Fair point. The key site of my present struglge is to convince an reputable, peer-reviewed academic journal that 40K merits academic study. Uphill battle that.

[TorvaldTheMild]

Gotcha! I re-activated my Twitter profile and Chris was willing to reply. Turns out that he did not rely explicitly on Kierkegaard.

 

I have been reading Kierkegaard's thoughts of anxiety, the aesthetic, ethical and religious life. It occurred to me that a case could be made that Space Marine Battle novels explore aspects of existential angs. Consider the depiction of the Iron Hands in Wrath of Iron. Of course, Chris Wraight works with existing codex lore, but I thought that the obsession with mechanised augmentation and the consonant excision of weakness could be read as reflecting angst.

 

But since 40K is not considerd canon Speculative Fiction, it would be very hard to persuade an academic journal to publish such musings, unless the authors admits to working with philosophical ideas.

You've basically read something and now you are seeing it everywhere.  Like you have become a hammer and everything looks like a nail.  There is no correlation between the two that would reflect existential angst.  I mean excision of weakness isn't existential angst in any way shape or form.

[bluntblade]

That seems a rather harsh assessment to me.

 

At the end of the day, the IH's hatred of the flesh is in large part their response to a collective trauma.

[TorvaldTheMild]

Not really, we all do that.  I've done that a lot of times.  You read something and you think it is the inspiration for a lot of the things you read after it.  The reason why its not correlated is that Space Marines have meaning in their lives, their lives revolve around meaning and purpose.  That's why you couldn't really say they have existential angst.  

[b1soul]

I would tend to agree that SM in general don't have existential angst.

 

The IH though are an interesting case. They hate their own flesh and the weakness it represents to them, but does that qualify as existential angst? They fiercely cleave to their purpose of serving the Imperium, and mechanising their bodies is a way of advancing that purpose in their minds.

[Ascanius]

Any Space Marine that lives long enough is going to experience existential angst!

[bluntblade]

I would tend to agree that SM in general don't have existential angst.

 

The IH though are an interesting case. They hate their own flesh and the weakness it represents to them, but does that qualify as existential angst? They fiercely cleave to their purpose of serving the Imperium, and mechanising their bodies is a way of advancing that purpose in their minds.

Debatable, although in terms of parallels one might reach for to convey such a mindset, I guess the one Welcheren specified might fit. I don't pretend to know though, and haven't read any Kierkegaard