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Ah, but Rat & I would attribute to the Holy Spirit the result that Matthew never actually _gets it wrong_--contradictions are only apparent, resulting from reading things in the wr…
17 Oct 1999, 10:51
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Since BLS and OBW are highly theological novels, its important to assess what Ah, but as someone actually going through the conversion process right now, I think formal Catholic …
15 Oct 1999, 19:15
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I'm a bit confused here--fits in with the Christ parallels in that Silk couldn't possibly be that Christ-like, or fits in that the _gospels_ are exaggerations? I would think the f…
15 Oct 1999, 12:10
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Another possible motive for delaying the embarkation, even if Blue/Green is the Whorl's destination: by the time of arrival, Pas seems to be communicating less and not as "in cont…
13 Oct 1999, 12:04
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Various random points: (1) On the Black Hole engulfing history--it seems to me that the problem with Asimov's Foundation/Robot mess was that it completely undermined the original…
12 Oct 1999, 19:05
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As I understand it the "Urth=Earth" arguments tend to boil down to "Yes, this is the future of OUR universe" or "This is the future of a Universe Very Much like ours, but we are th…
12 Oct 1999, 13:40
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This is purely coincidental, I'm sure, but I just noticed the resemblance between the Miracle of Apu Punchau and the means by which Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus a…
08 Oct 1999, 13:10
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Although (ignoring Wolfe's purposes and attributing final reasoning to Typhon here) the fact that the parodies are as close as they are to religions we know suggests that (as I thi…
08 Oct 1999, 10:57
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Nor, for that matter, had Severian become a perfected being in URTH. Despite the Christ-imagery, none of Wolfe's heroes are Christ. They're better viewed as apostolic, blessed fi…
07 Oct 1999, 14:04
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Besides the relevant answer mantis gave, it's obvious that Christianity is present in a metaphysical sense. The coincidences involved in the miracles and "plot-lines" favored by t…
06 Oct 1999, 18:34
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I'm replying to a number of points at once--a local mail problem resulted in me getting today in "digest" mode, all arriving in about five seconds. 1. Wolfe clearly DOES want us …
06 Oct 1999, 18:28
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Dan Rabin asked: <snippage> The last is possible, but with Wolfe I think it's always best to assume everything that looks intelligent and capable of willed action IS a moral age…
03 Oct 1999, 15:50
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Well, it's possible the relationship between Jolenta and Dorcas is intended to strain our credulity--it seems unlikely that Severian has _witnessed_ anything, and I think there's a…
03 Oct 1999, 15:36
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But if this is Krait's big nasty secret, how does it reduce the inhumi to (inexact quote, I'm at work) "little more than animals." If the secret strategic victory over the inhumi …
01 Oct 1999, 19:46
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Very interesting idea. On the plus side, I think we can safely place the idea of the vampire as one of Wolfe's major motifs, only subtly present in New Sun, more overt (and by the…
01 Oct 1999, 18:42
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No spoilers for after what Alga's read, btw. The undine theory has already been offered up, but nobody has commented on it--I suggested it, so I guess I can't say more than "it se…
01 Oct 1999, 12:28
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I just assumed Krait knew what was going on and was hitching a safe ride back home with the others--they knew who he was and he knew who they were. The trip back and forth is clea…
30 Sep 1999, 12:10
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I finished Blue last week, but have remained silent until now, waiting for someone else to speak first. My awe is the same--considering that NEW SUN, URTH, LONG SUN and SHORT SUN …
28 Sep 1999, 14:39
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Well, I'm on page 170, having just finished the Chapter "Seawrack" before going to bed and have some random comments: (1) I'm glad to see Wolfe returning to first-person narrativ…
24 Sep 1999, 12:38
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I think the Occam's Razor explanation for the Whorl is that it was sent out for the greater glory of Pas--i.e. to spread Typhon's rule to new places. I actually think it would be o…
23 Sep 1999, 12:17
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Just to note that there's no need to get uncorrected proofs from eBay. Amazon seems to be regularly shipping ON BLUE'S WATERS now. My order was mailed today. "And ye shall know …
21 Sep 1999, 10:13
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Aha. My own classification (which I avoided giving in the original post to get a feel for whether anyone was interested) is that the difference between Severian and Veidt can be b…
16 Sep 1999, 12:38
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I finally got around to reading Moore's WATCHMEN yesterday, and this morning got an email from a friend 2/3 through CLAW asking if the House Absolute is the "Satan's castle." This…
15 Sep 1999, 12:07
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There's also Anatole France's THAIS. About said courtesan, I believe, and a stylite. (I haven't actually read it myself.) "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set …
13 Sep 1999, 11:55
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I'm not sure what the reference is to--Severian's statement about symbols (the "We believe we create symbols..."), perhaps? At any rate, as usual Wolfe is not presenting a simple …
05 Sep 1999, 14:19
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So, then, is Wolfe parodying the Buddhist text, or the Ascian version thereof? After all, what Loyal-17 says most strongly suggests that the problem is (A) the restrictions impose…
03 Sep 1999, 11:57
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Alas, my memory was faulty. Mary, not Barbara, is Eleanor's sister-in-law's name. I wonder if Barbara Bold is named for anyone in Trollope or Dickens? The PEACE hypothesis is und…
19 Aug 1999, 14:33
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With respect to the "anthropomorphism" debate here, I think that Mr. Million is, indeed, our best look at Wolfe's attitude: highly ambiguous--Mr. Million clearly has a strong rela…
16 Jun 1999, 10:11
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I think this is missing the point--I'd be surprised if Wolfe believes that human emotions are purely a matter of particular electro-chemical processes of the brain--just as many pr…
12 Jun 1999, 11:47
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I seem to recall somewhere else where Wolfe says almost the same thing (this quote is from the ACROSS THE WOUNDED GALAXIES interview, I think) but in such a way as to imply that he…
03 Jun 1999, 13:34
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I nominate Patrick for pithiest and wisest post of the month--although his first statement is definitely false (if you doubt me, read one of his books).…
01 May 1999, 12:50
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I have to agree with James Jordan's take here (after Wolfe talked him out of the gnostic universe with Sev. as Antichrist) and say that Severian isn't an Incarnation, but a "Christ…
01 May 1999, 12:48
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Nigel Price's statements seems to be dead-on-target. Jonathan Laidlow's elaborated presentation of Wolfe's modernism also rings mostly true. Wolfe isn't writing a 19th century nov…
29 Apr 1999, 12:56
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Partial agreement on my part, but very partial if you mean what you seem to mean; sure, Wolfe is a modernist, and almost all of his major works are, to some extent, metafictional c…
29 Apr 1999, 11:12
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Ah, now this is interesting. I think that when you noted a materialistic explanation, I assume you meant an interpretation that just ignored/avoided the theological overtones. Wh…
28 Apr 1999, 11:23
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Or to put it differently, Wolfe reflects the paradoxes of the God of the Cross. It's not that it's impossible to interpret BOTNS in a purely materialistic light, as a commentary o…
25 Apr 1999, 12:15
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It can certainly be approached that way; however, from the standpoint of the author, at least, it would appear there IS an implied connection between the material events and a spir…
23 Apr 1999, 13:59
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Hmmm... Also interesting to note that realizing the Ascians are human doesn't prevent Severian from carrying on the war against them. In fact, it would seem a further justificati…
21 Apr 1999, 23:11
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History as the main character--I like that--and it would be one answer to why the stories don't end... It fits the idea that PEACE is a story about a man whose story is actually e…
14 Apr 1999, 11:12
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I'm pretty sure the "I'm trying to remember who killed who" was re: PEACE. Although it was an online interview, so there was some chaos and confusion in the transcript. Nobody as…
14 Apr 1999, 00:19
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Re: Weer First, I'd like to welcome Ed van der Winden to the list. You definitely have some interesting insights into PEACE, although I think I'm going to disagree with them so…
13 Apr 1999, 13:46
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Well, some of us aren't convinced that Weer is reponsible for anyone's death other than (A) the boy on the stairs, and that's not exactly murder and (B) maybe (there is someting si…
12 Apr 1999, 21:09
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Does Horn actually say that? I'm reading the lines: ". . . no more have character than a hus; but those who trap hus and tame them have told me that they differ at least as much …
12 Apr 1999, 13:50
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The idea is interesting, although the correspondence of names with the woman Peter raises from the dead in Acts 9:36-42 is suggestive of a real resurrection, the first human raised…
07 Apr 1999, 18:50
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Maybe. But notice the word "eternal"--which would imply the solution of St. Augustine, that "predestination" means that God's knowledge is outside time, which is a creation, and t…
06 Apr 1999, 10:34
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I won't argue that Severian is easy to identify with; as to Silk, I would place him in another category of Wolfe's protagonists. Green is somewhere in the middle--not as dark as S…
06 Apr 1999, 10:28
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Yes and no. Severian perfect saviour? Definitely not. (Hence Wolfe's various denials that Sev. is exactly a Christ figure.) But... Sure Severian is often a lout, and unlike Si…
04 Apr 1999, 01:40
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Well, I don't really think that Prufrock is about anything so Freudian as inability to procreate or seduce--Prufrock's failure to declare his love for the "That is not what I meant…
28 Feb 1999, 18:51
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I would imagine that the lack of Lafferty discussion is due to the fact that although Wolfe and Lafferty share similar worldviews and Wolfe is a great admirer of Lafferty's works, …
16 Feb 1999, 12:19
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Ah, that's it. It's been years since I read it. Great book--much more satisfying, IMO, than Coover's short fiction. We should also throw in works used in Wolfe stories, such as …
27 Jan 1999, 10:19
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