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Gwern, I see what you mean about those being two directions of the same issue. But there's something else going on there, as well. I always thought that Talos was really talking a…
19 Mar 2009, 04:54
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There isn't, really. Just some people like to feel that they have control over things that are external to them. Thus, guns. Couldn't resist...…
18 Mar 2009, 16:56
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I've got a friend who's been on the fence about reading New Sun for a few years. No amount of talk from me will get him to start it. Can anyone point to an easily accessible review…
18 Mar 2009, 16:22
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Brunians, You personally may want guns to protect you from the government, but it's much more commonly argued that self-defense or home/property defense is why we should have guns…
18 Mar 2009, 03:50
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It seems like Silk is a good place to get at this. Here's a man who's horrified at the thought of doing any kind of wrong. And yet he readily and willingly uses and even trains wit…
18 Mar 2009, 02:57
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In general, I'd agree, at least on the idea that you should look at the reasons a society values guns rather than the guns themselves. But I think that's actually our problem when …
18 Mar 2009, 02:24
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One more non-Wolfe point. I agree with Dan'l about the correct reading of the 2nd Amendment and always have. But even if it were for us to defend ourselves from the government, it…
17 Mar 2009, 15:31
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This is wonderful! When I get home, I'll have to pull out WK and see if there happens to be a lot of "white" associated with Michael. I just can't recall. Yes, "Spenser refer…
13 Feb 2009, 17:48
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If it's a Spenser reference, it's oblique. The Knight of Holiness in the Faerie Queene is called Redcrosse, but he's also St. George. In FQ, he's a young, untested knight who fails…
13 Feb 2009, 16:35
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I've checked the archives, but I can't locate very much on the relationship between Wolfe and Edmund Spenser. So I wanted to ask if anyone had any other leads or references they've…
05 Feb 2009, 15:05
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Catholicism makes all of this a bit tricky, too. Catholicism, of course, immediately brings up questions of orthodoxy vs. whatever. It's easy to assume that since Wolfe is Catholic…
04 Feb 2009, 16:12
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Flying space vampires? I'm cool with that. BUT GOSH DARN IT, WE'RE GONNA GET THOSE SHADOWS RIGHT! heh... I'm with Matthew, precisely because of the level of awesomeness. Since…
27 Jan 2009, 20:20
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I've always thought it was a lie. Fava dies in the snow when she and Horn do the astral travel bit. And when Jahlee is talking about learning to cross the void, she complains about…
26 Jan 2009, 23:00
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I don't have the books with me, but when Silk first looks out of a lander in Lake and sees the short sun rising, are there any tidbits there? ________________________________ F…
26 Jan 2009, 19:42
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So a lot of the theological discussion raises certain questions for me: Certainly Wolfe is a Catholic. Must his fiction also be Catholic? And if it is theologically orthodox, whe…
23 Jan 2009, 05:38
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Thanks for pointing to this! I can't believe I've never read it before -- I've looked at Wynn's site a number of times and always overlooked that link. But the potential that Gree…
22 Jan 2009, 21:05
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All this talk reminds me: I never can remember if the Whorl itself is actually cylindrical or if it's more oblong. As I recall, one of the inhumi calls it a "hollowed-out asteroid"…
22 Jan 2009, 00:03
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No, no. Certainly you have BSG's mysteries confused with LOST's where the poop joke is more plausible than anything else the writers have (or never had) in mind. Craig…
21 Jan 2009, 23:09
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Potential Short Sun spoilers, but... A thriving colony or real, happy humans could make sense if the inhumi really did want to live and experience and feel like humans do. Some ma…
21 Jan 2009, 21:00
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Define form. Heh, just kidding. (maybe...?)…
21 Jan 2009, 19:20
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Paul Harvey is strangely apropos for a Gene Wolfe list. For those who don't know, he told little-known stories and anecdotes about famous people, or sometimes told common stories a…
16 Jan 2009, 06:11
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I think it's Maytera Rose. She just wanted him out of the palaestra.…
14 Jan 2009, 18:54
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That could well be. But it gets more complicated since it's the people of the city, and not Silk, who give it that significance. And, of course, by the end, the Charter starts to s…
14 Jan 2009, 17:46
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I don't remember there being any official theocratic overtone to the position. But of course "Silk for Calde" was scrawled on the wall because rumor of his enlightenment got around…
14 Jan 2009, 17:42
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Sounds indeed. My latest read-thru of New Sun was a "listen-through" from the audio versions that have been posted here before. Quite a different experience with many things standi…
07 Jan 2009, 15:28
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Thanks for the link. And just a tiny note: _Strange Horizons_ did their year in review. Unfortunately, this was the single Wolfe mention: "As to the worst of the year: both The N…
07 Jan 2009, 15:19
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Just about done with Short Sun (again), but endings have me thinking again about the "Appendices" in New Sun and their absence in Long/Short. Has there been any speculation on the …
02 Jan 2009, 02:32
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Got a link to an article this morning that seemed apropos of our multiple repeating universes discussion: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026861.500-did-our-cosmos-exist-b…
31 Dec 2008, 15:59
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It's still probably more thoughtful than mine even when I do read all the posts...like when I write "Cathedral" instead of "Citadel"... ________________________________ From: P…
30 Dec 2008, 17:06
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I personally don't think that the Urth universe is a different universe. But I do think it's worth considering given "Malrubius" 's talk about the Hieros moving from universe to un…
30 Dec 2008, 16:58
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Severian as (less self-conscious) Ahab? ----- Original Message ---- From: David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> To: urth at lists.urth.net Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008…
30 Dec 2008, 15:38
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Plus, it is specifically called a "painting," if I remember correctly, no? Still, that could be another case of words with broader uses like "sailor" or "ship." I don't recall ther…
30 Dec 2008, 15:22
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I enjoy it immensely, as well. But even if it's not your cup of tea, I've heard a majority of "new wave" writers often cite it as an early influence on them, even though it isn't "…
30 Dec 2008, 15:19
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Not sure about the rest, but I assume that "You -- strike off" has to do with Severian "striking off" peoples' heads. Hm, now that is interesting, Witz. Maybe if we combine …
29 Dec 2008, 19:35
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The time travel question that you guys have been hashing out seems to me important to figure out when trying to interpret the books. And I think the question of Sev's "will" is act…
22 Dec 2008, 22:39
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I entirely agree. For style, Erikson is NOT your man. (And that made me seriously hesitate mentioning him on this list.) And, like you said, his characterization is inconsistent, w…
18 Dec 2008, 01:51
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Very different, but if you like "mystery" sf/fantasy, at least in the sense of starting without a clue and slowly having to puzzle your way toward figuring out what's going on, Ste…
18 Dec 2008, 01:04
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Ah, thanks! This is great. Can't believe I forgot about Virconium... ----- Original Message ---- From: Tim Walters <walters at doubtfulpalace.com> To: The Urth Mailing List <urt…
15 Dec 2008, 17:19
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Speaking of Vance, who else has written "dying earth" stories? I know we like to call it a subgenre, but how widespread is it, really? The only other example I can think of offhan…
15 Dec 2008, 15:14
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The one thing that's bothered me about multiple timelines is that it only makes any difference if you can actually move between them. That's great for stories where that happens, b…
07 Dec 2008, 23:20
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There's an interview where Wolfe says that he was obviously concerned with "working out" some of his beliefs as a Catholic. But I don't see why "working out" can't mean giving a fi…
06 Dec 2008, 06:35
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So the "greater lord" at the end is just another purgatory "lord"? The fact that he can apparently bring Disiri with him beyond just one level above her suggests that this is somet…
05 Dec 2008, 05:59
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Delany's "reading protocol" has less to do with actual science than with a willingness to allow language to affect our imaginations in ways that break usual possibilities. In some…
05 Dec 2008, 03:10
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So what counts as internal consistency in a world where, on the one hand, what initially seems like a medieval castle turns out to be an abandoned rocket ship (i.e., science trumps…
02 Dec 2008, 01:54
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While we all sit here and wonder about the practicalities and details of how Buenos Aires might have become Nessus, it seems that the best reason to think of the two cities as the …
01 Dec 2008, 19:31
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One other tiny point (and an apology for hitting Send too quickly before): Just because it's South America doesn't make Nessus Buenos Aires, of course. They layers upon layers of …
01 Dec 2008, 17:28
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Although we might argue about how much authorial intention matters on a point that isn't necessarily stated explicitly in the text, Wolfe has said that he intended South America. …
01 Dec 2008, 17:21
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I don't have my copies with me, but wasn't Father Inire responsible for building most of the House Absolute? Or was he just responsible for the "additions" to a structure that was …
01 Dec 2008, 16:31
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I'm reading through Wright's collection of interviews, and I stumbled on this: "What do [I] dislike most about [my] own writing... That so often it doesn't work -- that I can say …
28 Nov 2008, 15:59
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Modernism is an apt characterization of Wolfe at times. I know I've often called him sf's closest analogue to "High Modernism" when introducing him to literary types. I think it w…
26 Nov 2008, 23:24
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