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interestingly, my first reaction to your relation of that scene is that there is indeed some explanation. The nature of it may be hidden, but it exists. And Severian is just preten…
29 Apr 2009, 13:31
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I have no idea where it was, but I recall a fairly clear hint dropped that the inhumi evolved from parasitic vines. There is certainly no evidence that they are reptilian---merely …
29 Apr 2009, 01:37
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Good Wolfe!…
24 Apr 2009, 14:21
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One should always be skeptical of resurrections in fiction. ;) But remember, Severian was resurrected about half a dozen times. Why not an analog of the familiar of Apollo? [Inci…
17 Apr 2009, 01:14
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Doesn't the style of narration depend entirely on the narrator and his/her circumstances? That is, how else should the narrator of LS have narrated? That scene-by scene style, wit…
16 Apr 2009, 18:04
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John, I think you have a thesis.…
15 Apr 2009, 17:19
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Well, there you go. I have never even heard of any of those but the Burroughs and the Heinlein (and Pinocchio). I don't know Ransom either, for that matter. I'll have to investigat…
15 Apr 2009, 15:47
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Oh, Moby-Dick is hilarious! I wouldn't have laughed at it 20 years ago, but now I see it. The characters are over the top, and the long didactic sections---since we're talking abou…
15 Apr 2009, 15:43
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True. And Oreb's comic relief tends to highlight that melancholia, at least in retrospect. Much of the tone in BotNS comes from Severian himself, of course, and he experienced eve…
15 Apr 2009, 14:04
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I find BotNS has a comic aspect that has receded with each Sun novel since. Almost every scene in which Severian deals with other people is either a hilarious set piece or a riff o…
15 Apr 2009, 12:01
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No doubt you are right, Josh. I'm sure it's Occitan or Languedoc. That would explain the paucity of Google hits. ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 …
14 Apr 2009, 21:45
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My understanding was that the Parsees' religion doesn't exactly correspond to Zoroastrianism as practiced 5,000 or so years ago (or whatever the exact figure is), whichever one is …
09 Apr 2009, 17:56
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I was just going to comment that the term could simply be interpreted as "relating to hidden knowledge," or even just "knowledge," since most knowledge in Severian's world seems to…
09 Apr 2009, 17:51
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The clarification is not inappropriate. Although I'm not sure where the idea comes from that people think Zoroastrianism is dualistic. Most people have never heard of it. "Manichae…
09 Apr 2009, 17:46
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Gnosticism was influenced by Zoroastrianism, which is Manichaean, so it's certainly dualistic. But to Wolfe, one way is not better than the other, or any other way. All paths are p…
08 Apr 2009, 22:19
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The topic of gnosticism has come up before, but I couldn't recall some of the other clues to its conscious presence as an underpinning to BotNS. I stumbled on it in looking into …
08 Apr 2009, 18:24
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I suspect the thrust of the "tribade" conversation at Vodalus' forest citadel is being missed or over-interpreted. It's clear that the concern about the previously eaten woman's …
08 Apr 2009, 18:08
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Whether Wolfe ever met Borges or not, I'm sure it was a great desire of his to do so. And who wouldn't want to overhear THAT conversation? Even so, it strikes me more as a homage …
06 Apr 2009, 21:27
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Abaia causes flooding; he is a magical eel. But that doesn't mean Wolfe's Abaia causes flooding. It only means that he is associated with flooding. However, you would think a wa…
06 Apr 2009, 19:06
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Well, they were both underground in a musty place of great age, where data was literally entombed, like the dead. Where the knowledge of the historians that Ultan desires is also e…
06 Apr 2009, 18:54
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Along these lines, there's another "miracle" (more of a trick) of Severian's that might follow this pattern: when he tosses the craquemarte in the air from the deck of the ship upo…
05 Apr 2009, 13:37
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Leave me in peace, you mean. Yes, I wish you would. As I've indicated before, your arrogance is vast, as is your dishonesty.…
01 Apr 2009, 15:11
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Seems like you're already making us do all the work.…
01 Apr 2009, 11:14
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I knew you would blatantly, simplemindedly, and yet disingenuously misinterpret. I was pointing out the "and everything pertaining thereunto." Vast black budgets, aggressive state …
01 Apr 2009, 11:08
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[1] the military and everything pertaining thereunto, There's your "armed robbery" right there. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:16:58 -0400 (E…
31 Mar 2009, 21:32
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Unfortunately, I can't let that particular idiocy go by. I didn't say the rich should be murdered---that was Adam, whom I quoted. And he specifically meant rich banker criminals-…
28 Mar 2009, 21:46
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Yeah, whatever. Tax rates for the wealthiest are lower than they have ever been. And corporations still pay nothing. Facts, facts, facts. Who needs them?…
28 Mar 2009, 21:43
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Ah, but the lure of vast wealth is a strong motivator. That's why there were pirates on the Spanish Main: because the Spanish shipped gold from west to east. More will take their p…
28 Mar 2009, 02:47
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You mean it doesn't work in destroying the middle class? Quite so, and well put.…
28 Mar 2009, 02:35
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Now that's an observation that makes me really want to read the book. From the discussion here, I first thought it might be silly intertextual fun, then got a growing impression of…
27 Mar 2009, 12:46
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Translation: Josh cannot be stopped, because he cannot stop himself.…
26 Mar 2009, 21:29
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Someone commented here recently that the "secret" was that the inhumi can feed and enslave only because humans kill and enslave one another. They can only do it because they feed o…
26 Mar 2009, 21:01
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Sure, but that's not my policy with "interlocutors" as willfully obtuse and plainly insane as you. I have never seen you actually respond to any point. You merely spout idiocies an…
26 Mar 2009, 20:55
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I don't know where Dan'l lives, but where I live (the US) the police are in fact at war with a significant minority of the population. We imprison more people than Russia or China.…
26 Mar 2009, 20:50
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Damn straight. Why, in the Kalahari---before the mining corporations destroyed them---the !Kung and San had a paradise. No war, no money, nothing but storytelling and digging for r…
26 Mar 2009, 20:46
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I see. So, the only tax power of government would be to reduce taxes, never to increase them. Great! Power to the people, and to government by, for, and of the people. Eventually,…
26 Mar 2009, 20:05
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Good catch. Fritz Lieber rocks! Wolfe has said he sees little point in creating new words or names when there are so many good ones already. This is probably just a tip of the hat…
26 Mar 2009, 15:36
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The inhumi are usually referred to as reptilian, but I got the impression from somewhere that they did indeed evolve from plants. Wouldn't be surprised if the Neighbors did too. I…
22 Mar 2009, 17:23
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Chapter 1 of Through the Looking Glass. According to Peter Wright, there's a "reference" in that chapter to BotNS, but he doesn't say what it is. I assume it's simply the matter o…
21 Mar 2009, 02:38
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that IS a problem! Sure, why not? ;)…
20 Mar 2009, 20:17
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i always took that as a straight clue. The fluid nature of time is evident in NS and many myths. The story The Ziggurat contains a direct conversion of the slow-time-in-Elfland id…
20 Mar 2009, 17:32
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Thanks. It gets clearer for me with every iteration as well. You can also think of it as a language. Wolfe is so steeped in myth I bet it oozes out his ears. As in language, you h…
20 Mar 2009, 17:24
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No problem. Thanks for pointing me to your essay. The parallels to LS are indeed unavoidable. My guess as to the reason Wolfe chose this story to retell is simply that it involves…
20 Mar 2009, 13:01
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If you say so. I need to read it again!…
20 Mar 2009, 11:57
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Snakes' hands. You'll have to read John Crowley.…
20 Mar 2009, 02:07
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heh!…
20 Mar 2009, 02:05
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The difference between Wolfe's version of the faerie circle and the mythic originals is that the old plot mechanics have been switched out for something more complex and literary (…
20 Mar 2009, 02:04
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Exactly, thanks. I've pretty well forgotten the details of the Mabinogion myself. But I do remember that Annwn is always accessible, always close by---you can stumble on it anywh…
20 Mar 2009, 01:44
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Not at all. But I'm allowing myself to be understood too literally. I'm suggesting that Wolfe rewrites or incorporates myths and mythical systems, and that we can easily recogniz…
20 Mar 2009, 01:36
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Interestingly, "soul" often has been used the opposite of the way we use "self." That is, as something you possess that is not you, and which you may have stolen from you. If you …
19 Mar 2009, 21:44
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