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Friends, With such wonderful activity, there is no need for an off-topic message to have some signs of life, but perhaps it may be excused. I am presently about 50 pages into BL…
30 May 1999, 03:04
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I saw at Barnes & Noble the other day the Orb one-volume reissue of _Wraeththu_ by Storm Constantine, and have thought about buying it. I notice it is similar to stories like the…
30 Apr 1999, 01:29
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In late 1997, there was a discussion of "Eschatology and Genesis" which was essentially my introduction to the list, and now it is archived in the 5th volumes of the archives. Now …
30 Mar 1999, 22:14
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I've long thought that the scene in the BotNS in which Dorcas is eating a pomegranate (cannot remember the volume, but I believe it is the second), has some interesting symbolism. …
23 Mar 1999, 18:43
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1) I don't know the origin of the word "Madregot" (the name of the Brook beyond Briah), but perhaps it is related to the Spanish word "Madrugada," which means "dawn." This seems to…
25 Feb 1999, 11:58
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David Duffy said: <<I think they are characters in a dream, based on those waiting in one or more actual visits to the doctor.>> So Weer conjures them up just like he does the doc…
26 Jan 1999, 03:50
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How quiet this list has been lately. We have not discussed everything in the non-LS works of Wolfe, so their is not reason no one is talking. I'm re-reading PEACE, and this time I…
24 Jan 1999, 01:08
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Robert Borski said: <I'm also wondering, in light of the above, if anyone can link the two (Valeria, Azure) to the passage in CITADEL where Severian, recalling the first time he me…
09 Oct 1998, 23:04
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Mantis wrote: <While I don't for a minute suppose that the pelerines would have one of their own sent to the Matachin Tower for any crime, let alone something as mild as breaking a…
09 Oct 1998, 23:04
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It's been suggested that Valeria in the BotNS is based upon Valeria Mescalina, er, Messalina, who was the third wife of the Emperor Claudius. Going through a dictionary of classica…
09 Oct 1998, 19:22
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I know from reading a reading in a Spanish textbook once that Foila's tale, "The Armigette's Daughter," comes from a Latin American folktale called "El Pajaro de Siete Colores," or…
07 Oct 1998, 22:49
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Jon Camfield said: <Related question: are the distances in the Brook Madregot logarithmic? Have we ever come up with further references to Madregot than the kabbalistic ones? (reme…
03 Oct 1998, 22:52
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For some reason, there has been not a single post over the last week. So, to get some more activity, I'll ask for a review of the Wolfe book FREE LIVE FREE. Is it worth buying? Wha…
20 Sep 1998, 22:57
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<???--Father Inire. He's a hunched little guy, a Daedalus or Hephaestus or Toth, and since Toth is the most ancient I tend to think of Inire as being something like Toth's totem, …
03 Sep 1998, 00:03
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Friends, Is it just my imagination, or is the scene in the Jungle Hut in the BotNS a recap of "The Death of Doctor Island:" The characters seem similar to me: Robert - Nicholas M…
02 Sep 1998, 21:20
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Peter Westlake wrote: <Isn't it only Baldanders who says they have short lives?> In the tenth year of his autarchy, in the chapter called "Ressurection," Severian writes, "old, tw…
02 Sep 1998, 19:36
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Wolfe said in the interview with James B. Jordan: "I wanted to do the rooms that were recreations and rooms that [Weer] had known as a very young man and I didn't think that anyb…
28 Aug 1998, 04:57
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William Ansley said: <I read the book three times before I realized that Weer was dead.> That's common with Wolfe's books. I read the BotNS three times before I came to grasp basi…
25 Aug 1998, 06:34
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William Ansley said: <It is as certain as anything can be in a Wolfe book that Weer is dead...from internal evidence...> I don't think so... And continued: <...and because Wolfe…
24 Aug 1998, 05:36
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Jason Voegele wrote: <Whoa there! That's a BIG can of worms.> But so is every Wolfe book. <g> <We had quite a good discussion of PEACE early on in the list, so you should be ab…
23 Aug 1998, 23:16
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Friends, I've just recently returned to my home from a vacation to the southern states. While there, I read _Peace,_ and I have no idea what it was about. Is Alden Dennis Weer a t…
23 Aug 1998, 05:37
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Adam asked: This is, IMHO, rather simple. The Hierogrammates are theological beings who serve the Pancreator. As such, they judge the sentient beings of their area and decide whet…
14 Jul 1998, 20:08
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We've talked of the Book of Gold as a rite-of-passage symbol, but is there any evidence that the BoG is actually a plated copy of Canog's BotNS itself? Christopher R. Culver <crcu…
14 Jul 1998, 20:08
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Mark Kelly said: <I noticed that Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> on this list has a quote from Brendan Perry (half of the group) in his .sig., so I can't be the only perso…
28 May 1998, 19:26
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Mantis said: <You were trying to remember the name of the beast whose mouth is a cave--the name is "Uroboros" (II, ch. 27).> To which Dan Parmenter responded: <Just how many evil …
27 May 1998, 02:39
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(To Mantis really, but to everyone else as well), If the first Severian really was cruel, as Mantis thinks, I would ask for citation, which hopefully consists of more than "uh, we…
04 May 1998, 02:12
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FunkMonkey, Welcome to the list! Your post was very much welcome, as it returns discussion to one of the most enigmatic parts of the BotNS. <The exultants, (again, more of a feel…
01 May 1998, 02:33
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Friends, Could someone tell me what the scarab machine in Yesod does? Thanks, Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html ----------------…
01 May 1998, 02:32
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Here are my thoughts on the "Severian as Christ" essay now avaliable on Paul Duggan's site: <The first Concilliator is described as having a shining face> As is the New Sun (Do…
23 Apr 1998, 20:54
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<Borges was fluent in English, at least conversationally, if I remember correctly?> Yes, but in a biography about him, written by a close friend of his, whose name I don't recall,…
17 Apr 1998, 03:26
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Friends, I made a query on sci.lang about any meaning of "Kim Lee Soong" and this is what was responded: "C R Culver (crculver at aol.com) wrote: : I'm wondering if the Korean name …
03 Apr 1998, 02:12
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Just been thinking lately about secret, forgotten, or just plain unknown names in the BotNS: 1) Hethor's real name 2) The real name of the town that forgot Fauna 3) Valeria's seco…
27 Mar 1998, 02:49
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I've been thinking about Jonas and Miles lately. I came up with two ideas I think are possible: 1) Severian, after the adventure at the Castle of Baldanders, is basically friendle…
26 Mar 1998, 02:32
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Rostrum said: The autarch mentions he has a pharmacon *similar* to the alzabo, but not the same. No doubt it was much more effective to bring hundreds of personalities into anothe…
24 Mar 1998, 21:06
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Mark Millman argued: And of course, Chinese speakers don't use tones on every single word like written pinyin. But, I'm sure it was Korean because Korea *was just mentioned* in t…
18 Mar 1998, 20:32
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The name of the artist Joseph Severn, who was living with famous English poet John Keats when he died in Rome, looks a little bit like Severian. The only parallel I can see now is …
17 Mar 1998, 20:28
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Rasterman clarified: I knew I was right! So, why does Severian say that Hethor never mentioned his ship? I think it's Wolfe's fault, but a small forgetting like this over 5 volume…
17 Mar 1998, 20:14
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Fellow Urthers: There has often been talk on this list of how far in the future the Commonwealth of Severian's time is. I was perplexed, however, at the personage of Kimleesoong (…
12 Mar 1998, 21:55
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Said Peter S: This section is hard for me to interpret religiously, because Severian does release the floodgates, killing the prisoners in the jacal. That is, IMHO, not in any way…
12 Mar 1998, 03:16
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Fellow Urthers, I'm writing a review of the Book of the New Sun and Urth of the New Sun for Porchnus, the e-zine of the America Online Religion and Beliefs forum. The review will …
07 Mar 1998, 23:31
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Don't know if this has been pointed out already, but: The story of Master Ash, his house, and Ragnarok is tied very much to Norse mythology. The house compares with, as someone ea…
04 Mar 1998, 16:34
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I've been wondering for some time now just how sensitive Tor and Wolfe would be to the use of BotNS text and pictures. I seek two things that could be taken as copyright infringeme…
04 Mar 1998, 16:33
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Fellow Urthers: The following BotNS references from other sci-fiction works have got my attention: 1) In Stephen R. Donaldson's "Gap" series, there is a character named Sorus *Ch…
04 Mar 1998, 16:30
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Kieran said: Inire, in his presence chamber, used merely one light, which was wildly incoherent (if it was coherent, Inire and Thecla's friend would have had so difficulty seeing …
17 Feb 1998, 15:31
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Friends, I have here an interesting little hypothesis that you will either scoff at or be driven mad by its paradoxial temporal mechanics. We have to, however, set aside the notio…
11 Feb 1998, 21:34
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Friends, In _Shadow_, chapter XXXV, there is the tale of the woman who brings black beans from the stars. This woman threatens to cast them into the sea unless she were obeyed. Th…
08 Feb 1998, 18:08
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Friends, There has been recent talk of the part of the BotNS concerning polychrome, though many have wondered where it is. I have found in in _Shadow_, the chapter called "Baldand…
07 Feb 1998, 18:54
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This is why I particularly enjoy Dan Maitz's cover painting for _Claw_, in which the zoanthrops are blinded by the light of Severian's Claw. This ties in with a remark made by Dorc…
06 Feb 1998, 15:13
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Friends, In the Book of the New Sun, the people knew that the Conciliator and the New Sun were one and the same person. This is evidenced by the words that Severian says to Mo…
03 Feb 1998, 15:41
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Said Vizcacha Woah, Gene Wolfe himself has said that there are only 2 chiliads between our present time here inA.D. 1998, and Severian's time. (I think it is in the People in…
30 Jan 1998, 16:43
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