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Well, when thinking about Ares, also recall what Diokles has to say about him in S. of Arete - met with, I believe, some approval from Latro: "Old Ares isn't some kind of monster…
01 Apr 2006, 22:22
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Well, one thing that I supposed was possible was that Ares might have been possessing Latro (the way he was wont to do in the Iliad) at the time when Latro received his injury. A…
01 Apr 2006, 21:29
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Well, this may be irrelevant, but we are given to understand that destriers are quite fast. They are genetically engineered mounts that can run at least as fast as a speeding mot…
24 Feb 2006, 12:05
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Well, logically we can separate the "how" and the "why" of the Piteous Gate incident, and perhaps that will help. (Though as a side note I do not understand the sort of universal…
24 Feb 2006, 04:54
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The road is officially devoted to military use, the transportation of troops and supplies, so that is what the gate is for. I find all arguments about what happened at the Piteou…
21 Feb 2006, 22:02
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Well, let me be more clear about something. If Wolfe is calling anything to mind here with Correct Thought, it is unlikely to be *just* the phrases from the little red book or *j…
30 Jan 2006, 21:55
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I was of course aware of the references to communism in these passages, and even caught the references to Mao's little red book. Apparently my historical knowledge is inadequate,…
30 Jan 2006, 01:49
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With respect to #2 below, I believe he wasn't so much talking about the first couple of generations of Ushasites so much as the later (or earlier?) people who would read the Book…
29 Jan 2006, 20:40
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It has been a little while since I read that book, but it was interesting and thoughtfully put together regardless of questions of whether Wright's interpretation is "right". My …
28 Jan 2006, 12:14
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I agree with Roy's take on the purported Gnosticism in TWK. If this is being based off of the scene with the Most Low God where he claims that if you saw his back you would see t…
15 Dec 2005, 18:46
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Are we sure that the banishment is permanent, or could there be some process of redemption unique to that realm? I cannot help but think that there is an element of "gathering th…
13 Dec 2005, 18:42
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Dan'l said: I am unsure whether Typhon falls cleanly into the category of a perversion or having been "raised anyway", but I think there is a distinct element of both in there. …
10 Dec 2005, 22:26
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I suggest you take a step back and reflect on this for a second. You threw out a one-liner to a mailing list which was either meant to make a point (the one that Dan'l criticized…
05 Dec 2005, 23:32
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Roy replied: Something happened, though, when Able "promoted" Disiri. She attained a sort of reality she did not have before. There is not direct statement along the lines that …
05 Dec 2005, 21:45
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Yes, the Green Knight (Able) gets his head cut clean off by Gawain - but by supernatural power laughs it off and walks away. The deal was that he would be able to deliver the sam…
02 Dec 2005, 09:41
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Hold up just a second here. I've seen this claim, and claims like it, multiple times - "Able was a god and couldn't be beaten by anyone", etc. It's not true. Able is beaten fair …
01 Dec 2005, 18:56
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Generally speaking I agree with the negative assessment of Able centering on his actions when he first met the captain. But treating the subjects in the order they appear here, t…
30 Nov 2005, 23:45
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It seems like all he directly admitted to there was that the Valfather let him come. But the fact that the Valfather let him come back is not something I recall him concealing mu…
27 Nov 2005, 21:42
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Roy said: I can see why you'd think this, but on the other hand if that was his intention it's hard to explain why he goes so far out of his way to warn the captain off from fig…
27 Nov 2005, 10:28
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Might as well refer back to the chapter in question. On p. 127 of the trade, Able asks after his possessions after he's regained consciousness: Pouk coughed. "Speakin' of Cap'n..…
25 Nov 2005, 00:33
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Roy said: Is that what I was up to there, defending Able? If so I will have to step back and re-evaluate, because I didn't think I was defending anyone (including Able) from any…
24 Nov 2005, 09:47
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I would also add that this does not seem to be an unconditional rule, there seem to be explicit and deliberate conditions based on social status. This is another aspect of the ge…
23 Nov 2005, 19:48
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I may be imagining things, but I got the impression that the bow string was not full of entire lives, but only certain pieces of the lives of various people. Heroic moments, to b…
11 Nov 2005, 23:09
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When Grengarm opened his mouth, Able saw the faces of his victims - I don't think that there was any specific person's face in Grengarm's mouth that comprises the revelation Able…
02 Nov 2005, 22:31
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I am pretty sure I am not inventing this idea myself - though I didn't find it in a cursory search of the archives - but one semi-obvious way to look at the layered worlds in the…
02 Nov 2005, 22:26
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I find this issue to be particularly interesting not only for the new way it has us look at Svon, but for the new way it has us look at Ravd. Coming out of the first book (and mo…
28 Oct 2005, 18:18
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David said: Well it seems like you have already backtracked from your original position that all she ever wanted from the start was to become queen. But even so, it seems like y…
26 Oct 2005, 19:01
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It's been a while since we've had a discussion/debate going here, so I'll rummage through the closet for my pointy stick and have a go at starting something: I don't agree with …
26 Oct 2005, 03:30
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Yves said: I said: I can't decide whether that's a really good or a really terrible joke. Either way, admirable. I am interested, where might I find a copy of that story? Chris…
26 Oct 2005, 02:55
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I can barely stand to read half of these posts. And the most cretinous ones (if that is a word, and if I am using it correctly) don't seem worth responding to, because they refle…
22 Oct 2005, 03:10
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Well, it depends. From the links I posted, Borski in 1999 claims that Wolfe has emphatically denied that the worlds are the same, but does not say when/where. It's hearsay, but B…
29 Aug 2005, 11:08
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http://www.urth.net/whorl/archives/v0006/0473.shtml http://www.urth.net/whorl/archives/v0013/whorl.v012.n178.6.shtml http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0203/370.txt.shtml http://ww…
29 Aug 2005, 02:53
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... ... What? Civet…
27 Aug 2005, 01:47
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Does this take that much agonizing? The fact that Gene Wolfe is popular now is irrelevant, unless you're claiming that somehow Wolfe somehow should have known back then that he w…
26 Aug 2005, 01:15
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If I recall correctly we know that the last name begins with a "W", and has some sort of association with "dog". While the original settlers in the system were French-speaking, t…
23 Aug 2005, 01:47
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This is indeed good news, although I am more interested in the long term (expanded, corrected version) than in the short term (I am not *quite* fanatical enough to spend $30 on s…
22 Jul 2005, 18:37
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Combining, as well as I can, points from two separate threads. The discussion is getting more and more unwieldy, unfortunately. Re: Cilinia and the tomb, JW said: "If we presume …
07 Jul 2005, 18:16
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This has been discussed a few times, I believe. It doesn't seem likely that the image was tied inextricably to physical appearance, unless you think that Echidne really looked li…
05 Jul 2005, 20:37
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Crush said: I think this is a bigger assertion than you appear to think it, at least based on the cursory treatment of it so far. Knowing some details about the history of Typho…
04 Jul 2005, 19:32
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MSG asked: Crush responds: If we take Severian's memory for granted, then he should remember *all* of the tombs he's been around with a high degree of detail, and could lead the…
30 Jun 2005, 11:22
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Crush said: Yes, it is pretty much exactly as you say. And I'd even put this together with something you mentioned earlier - it's not just about the Wolfe quote from the intervi…
27 Jun 2005, 17:59
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To take an opportunity to return to my own speculation from earlier, this whole exchange reinforces my original conviction that the Rajan at that point had access to, or had curr…
26 Jun 2005, 13:51
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I do recognize that this plays on the biggest weakness of an attempted clone theory, but then in a broader sense almost any constructive theory of this kind from Wolfe's work has…
25 Jun 2005, 16:48
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Crush said: There is some sense to this, of course, but the thematic interpretation still *feels wrong* in a way that's difficult to put a definitive expression to. My intuitive…
25 Jun 2005, 15:32
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Not a retort, this post was meant to lighten up where I felt I was getting too serious. And you have to admit, the many-Severians theory has the virtue of absolving Severian of t…
25 Jun 2005, 02:15
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I was about to playfully suggest as a universal rule that one should not postulate clones beyond necessity. (And it still seems like something of a good idea, I must admit). But…
24 Jun 2005, 14:56
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Crush said: I don't think it's unworkable, I just think it's significantly awkward. And when you start trying to divine his intention here, you can go a number of ways. Just as …
24 Jun 2005, 14:22
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I agree with both you and Crush that there is a Gnostic element *there* regardless - that's the reason I find the possible relation to the Trinity to be problematic. A "parody" o…
23 Jun 2005, 16:56
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Crush said: This is the kind of thing I was talking about, and I do think there's a very big thematic problem here. You are suggesting that Wolfe is "rationalizing" the Holy Tri…
23 Jun 2005, 13:44
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Though I try to remain agnostic about the whole clone thing, I might as well throw in some things that I think are problematic. Crush said: I find the application of the term "C…
23 Jun 2005, 12:14
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