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Bsharp has been my nom de internet for quite a while now. I wasn't sure how important or revealed the members' vital statistics are for this community so I held back on that. I …
26 May 2006, 13:28
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I was always amused and puzzled by a scene, in a Severian dream, where he turns into Thecla and she is pleased to find herself in men's clothing. A recent web surf showed me that…
26 May 2006, 13:04
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Thalassocrat I think it is simpler than all that. F, B and O move only backward in time, virtually without exception (which marks them as pawns, in Tzadkiel's chess analogy). T…
26 May 2006, 12:50
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Roy, are you suggesting that every day, Dorcas' husband and Hildegrin put their boats on their backs and carried them up the Adamanian (what was that name?) stairs and past the C…
26 May 2006, 12:07
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I'm pretty sure the ugly Hierodule masks of F, B and O are an insect, a lamprey (fish) and a human leper. I think Famulimus is the leper. yep, earthly hierodules, uh praying ma…
26 May 2006, 10:48
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Mourning, I'm seeing a pattern. You are absolutely an anti-Rudesindite. You hate his painting, you hate his appreciation of Fechin, you hate his drivel and his working class ver…
26 May 2006, 04:41
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I don't think this topic, broached long ago by Roy, was fully explored. Hey, BotNS has ghouls and zombies, witches and ghosts, Frankenstein's monster, how can it leave out vampi…
26 May 2006, 04:18
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Well, Mournings glory takes me to task for violating Mantis' saints and myths naming rule (I don't violate Wolfe's "everything is what it says it is" rule. We don't even get a n…
26 May 2006, 03:38
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I knew I forgot one topic in my last post. Regarding Dorcas' husband as a ne'er do well, one person agrees with that, Ouen. He doesn't appreciate being sent to clean pots at age…
26 May 2006, 03:21
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Roy, all these intertwined posts, combined with your reference to your sprawling Dear Dorcas post from days of yore, make it tough to respond in a concise organized way. But I'll…
26 May 2006, 03:16
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Macronaut is right. It was Vodalus. -bdull…
25 May 2006, 14:29
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Both Tzadkiel and Typhon (I think it is him) make chessboard references to the BotNS drama. Tzadkiel tells Severian that his is a race of pawns, who can only move in one directi…
25 May 2006, 12:03
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Roy says: Roy you are so parsimonious! Care to elaborate on which parts of my post are wrong, which are old hat and which are cogent? Roy also says: At some later date I'll pos…
25 May 2006, 11:37
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On first reading of the BotNS I thought Father Inire (suggesting INRI King of the Jews?) made only one cameo apperance as the cowled servitor who guides Severian to the Green Roo…
25 May 2006, 04:44
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Thanks Jeffrey, I always had this feeling there was something more hidden in the Hierodule name. I wouldn't be surprised if more insights springboard from yours.…
25 May 2006, 00:23
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p.s. more biotech: I forgot to mention the Cumaean's Talos-like human body transformation abilities, as touted by Merryn. I also forgot the apostrophe. -bsharp…
24 May 2006, 18:43
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mournings glory's theory on the incident at Piteous Gate is a good one. Could the extant theory it is semi-based be Borski's idea that Baldanders mates with Juturna shortly after…
24 May 2006, 18:30
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Dan'l asks: and later says: Maybe, since it is alien and has a personality(s), though stolen. Do we want to stretch the cacogen definition to include the salamander? The slug? …
24 May 2006, 15:12
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Macronaut asks: I don't think there is a clear answer but here is my take: First, in the Claw appendix, Wolfe idenfies all the inhabitants (except Ultan) of the Citadel as belo…
24 May 2006, 04:41
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LOL@ Hierish eyes smiling. For shadow children it is, "hey there, you with the stars in your eyes". anyway Dan'l says: I think Robert Borski would say we can know them (cacogens…
24 May 2006, 00:27
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Roy says: Good catch Roy and good analysis. It is the in the appendix of Claw where Wolfe tells us they are both cacogens. But since I'm in a priggish mood I'll increase the prec…
23 May 2006, 22:45
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I think Tony makes good points in his last post. He pokes a few holes in what I thought was an airtight case. The problem as I see it is that Tony can't see the holes in his own…
23 May 2006, 19:34
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I'd like to apologize for monopolizing so much of the community space lately. My excuse is that I spent the last 20 years reading the 5 Urth books at least once and often twice …
23 May 2006, 17:16
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maru writes: I believe Wolfe specifically identifies Inire and The Cumaean as cacogens in one of his appendices, but I like your idea! It fits well with my upcoming post on the …
23 May 2006, 12:15
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Roy says: Yes, F, B and O know less and less as OUR time passes. We know less and less as their time passes. They know the most in Apu Punchau's time. Roy says: This contradi…
23 May 2006, 11:41
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We know that Fifth Head of Cerberus started as a novella and became a novel with two added sections. I suspect that Wolfe considered it an imperfect work, perhaps because nobody…
23 May 2006, 01:11
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Mark Millman writes: I think some Wolfe worshipers have the idea that he had Wizard Knight mentally complete before he wrote Island of Doctor Death. But when I mention the conn…
23 May 2006, 00:18
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p.s. Regarding regular visits of F, B and O to the House Absolute, if you mean to Severian, after he is autarch then I think they must be private audience of one.…
22 May 2006, 19:09
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Macronaut you DO pose a large number of questions which I appreciate! I did have the patience to read through them all, though I'm not sure anyone else will want to ;-). I thin…
22 May 2006, 18:50
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OMG what have I done!! http://www.maison-de-stuff.net/john/pictures/ParisFeb2005/SANY0060.JPG Sorry Gene!…
22 May 2006, 15:34
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I read Robert Borski's Solar Labyrinth and was both pleased and disappointed. I was pleased with most of the thoughtful and scholarly analysis. I was disappointed that it took …
22 May 2006, 14:43
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Just so it is clear, my original post in this thread was completely tongue-in-cheek. If I really thought Roy was Gene Wolfe I wouldn't out him in such a cavalier manner. If the…
22 May 2006, 11:09
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At the risk of being trite I'd like to mention some scenes in BotNS which, I think, are Wolfian guides on how to interpret that book (and surely others of his). 1. In Sword, Se…
21 May 2006, 03:56
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Once there was a rumor that Gene Wolfe was disguised in this community. If that were true, how could we identify him? If he is actually a technophobe then we wouldn't expect he …
20 May 2006, 21:55
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I think examples of Wolfian humor are especially effective because they are so rare and widely spaced and inevitably droll. 5th Head is so damned dark and foreboding I think the…
20 May 2006, 03:55
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So we are on undine mating habits, hm..I think Robert Borski is of the opinion that Baldanders mated with one of them, which gave him the ability to breath underwater. Severian …
19 May 2006, 12:27
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(golden Severa etc. doesn't seem the right title for this thread) David DiGiacomo exclaims: No, I suggested that Wolfe might be using this ideal of innocence to describe Dorcas.…
19 May 2006, 11:55
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thalassocrat expresses: I use the megatherian term as a convention only, is there an alternate term? So Thalassocrat is of the school who feel "they" (is it even 17?) are human? …
19 May 2006, 03:27
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There are theories on why the number 17 might be important as a significant and/or evil number to Gene Wolfe in BotNS. Because Noah's flood happened on 'February' 17? Because G…
19 May 2006, 01:30
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Okay the two eldest of the current posters win the quiz, Dan'l and Roy C. Lackey with answers of yellow and blonde. Roy says: Roy, you are more than 7 years old, why so snippy? …
19 May 2006, 00:37
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Well, interesting. It seems there are at least two or three here who flout the naming convention that urth humans have saint names and aliens have mythological names in BotNS. So…
18 May 2006, 18:55
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Hoping to post correction of myself first ;). Juturna has red eyes, not green. Combining this with her white skin and hair (the green we learn is from algae) makes her and her …
18 May 2006, 14:48
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Well, some great discussion on this guy going on. Kudos to mournings glory for noting the surely intentioned Frankenstein allusion (in a golden Severa etc. post) My first clue t…
17 May 2006, 21:21
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Thanks (once again) to Roy for the correction. As a new guy, I really do appreciate them. Robert Borski didn't miss the catamite as I thought. Sorry I don't have Solar Labyrinth…
17 May 2006, 12:05
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mourning glory presents two bits of evidence that Jolenta is Sev's sister: Nessus." Thanks for bringing those to attention! Both seem significant. The lightning face echo is mor…
16 May 2006, 19:22
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Well, let me open another can of worms regarding physical attributes. Robert Borski notes (and has published) that Severian's family may be identified by their golden attributes…
15 May 2006, 19:39
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mourningsglory responds- I must respectfully disagree that Severian could be refering to events after Saltus Fair such as the man-ape cave, the notule attack, the antechamber sl…
15 May 2006, 15:29
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In the vaults of this archinve there has been a fair amount of discussion centered on the disturbance at the Piteous Gate that ends Shadow. I had always felt it was something my…
15 May 2006, 03:49
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Russell Wodell wrote- "On a totally separate note: Has anyone else wondered why Wolfe has never referred to the two most famous vulpine authors: Thomas Wolfe and Virginia Woolf?…
10 May 2006, 11:46
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At the risk of cluttering the list with my own issues, I'll toss this small one in the ring. Just before Severian drops off Ouen at the house where Dorcas is mourning he tells h…
07 May 2006, 03:37
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