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From: Lee Berman When Severian comes to Saltus (though of course it is much later) it is on high alert against the Vodalarii. Maybe it’s easier get corpses from the big city. I…
24 Oct 2011, 17:01
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From: David Stockhoff It may be that those sent to the torturers are meant to stay buried where the torturers put them. - Gerry Quinn…
24 Oct 2011, 16:40
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From: David Stockhoff Right there at the dinner table. - Gerry Quinn…
24 Oct 2011, 15:43
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From: Lee Berman I don’t remember anyone going into detail about the events of Dorcas? life with Inire (assuming that he was the boatman and she was married to him) and how they …
24 Oct 2011, 15:42
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From: Lee Berman They’re not so fussy. It looks like they’ll eat anyone, at a pinch, even if some of them have preferences: ************************************** "Going far thi…
24 Oct 2011, 12:40
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From: Ryan Dunn But the thing is, we *do* have a great underlying story, and it’s certainly quite reasonable to argue that in that story Severian is in some senses a puppet. He …
24 Oct 2011, 12:28
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From: Lee Berman That’s why I’m asking the question. I can’t understand why such a person finds this and similar ideas sufficiently attractive to persist with it, for the reason…
24 Oct 2011, 12:05
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From: Craig Brewer That’s kind of where I’m coming from too, in fact it crystallises what I feel is so wrong about “boatman as Inire” theories: what do they do to Dorcas? Ryan ma…
23 Oct 2011, 22:59
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From: Ryan Dunn It will ultimately be decided by what works. As for Inire as the old boatman, I really don’t understand why people take such ideas seriously. Can somebody expla…
23 Oct 2011, 21:23
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From: Ryan Dunn I’m sorry if it bothers you that I think there are right approaches and wrong ones. But it seems to me that all approaches to understanding Wolfe — or any author…
23 Oct 2011, 17:33
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From: David Stockhoff Yes, by WindCloud, one of the Neighbours, in the courtroom in Dorp. ****************** "I was one of those who boarded your whorl when it neared our sun. …
23 Oct 2011, 15:33
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From: David Stockhoff I don’t recall the specific discussion, but usually when I say something is “not important” I mean it doesn’t have any very wide implications in the scheme …
23 Oct 2011, 10:46
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From: Marc Aramini --- On Fri, 10/21/11, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote: What exactly are the things we need to explain? Can’t we just say the N…
23 Oct 2011, 10:39
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From: Lee Berman [to Marc] Fair enough, except that I do not consider the opposite of “improbable” to be “pedestrian”. “Probable” is of course the natural opposite, but while a…
23 Oct 2011, 10:10
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From: Lee Berman Why? Doesn’t PanCreator just mean “creator of all” while Increate means “existing without having created?” Both are attributes of the Christian God (and the Mu…
23 Oct 2011, 09:39
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From: Ant?nio Pedro Marques It’s not that bad, I think. If Wolfe says something, after all, others might have come to the realisation later. As for Weer, when I read _Peace_ I …
22 Oct 2011, 11:50
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From: Lee Berman I don’t see where you get that from. In the last few posts, for example, I’ve posted on what I think the reference to Dionysus means, what I think is the signif…
21 Oct 2011, 21:16
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From: Lee Berman I don’t think the Dionysus references indicate anything more than his stature as a pagan god on ancient Urth (and Earth). Gods evolve as theology evolves. Dion…
21 Oct 2011, 15:51
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From: James Wynn How do you determine the right way to read Wolfe? I would tend to go by results, i.e. consistent interpretations that make sense in terms of ALL the text, and no…
21 Oct 2011, 15:33
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From: James Wynn How do you determine the right way to read Wolfe? I would tend to go by results, i.e. consistent interpretations that make sense in terms of ALL the text, and n…
21 Oct 2011, 15:31
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From: Gerry Quinn I don’t mean to say this disproves Andrew’s theory: errors may have crept into the history related by Cyriaca, or Wolfe may have nodded. Certainly it’s odd th…
20 Oct 2011, 10:42
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From: Andrew Mason My theory is that Wolfe always hides things in plain sight. We may be told things in passing, and miss them through not paying sufficient attention — but we a…
19 Oct 2011, 23:19
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From: Andrew Mason Fair enough, though it doesn’t really give the impression that Typhon was trying to suppress knowledge. But I just found a problem: “Their spoil was gathered …
19 Oct 2011, 23:13
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One long novel. And you need to read at least Long Sun, and preferably New Sun as well, before it. - Gerry Quinn…
19 Oct 2011, 22:52
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From: James Wynn Where are we told this? I can’t find it. Are you sure there is no other interpretation? AFAIK the Rajan’s staff was the one he took from the farmer who attac…
19 Oct 2011, 22:50
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From: Lee Berman More than that. One can argue that it symbolises a real Eucharist, as distinct from the diabolical one of the Vodalarii. One could make a similar argument rega…
19 Oct 2011, 16:25
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From: David Stockhoff I wouldn't assume that Sev is not attracted to Juturna, nor that an attraction is not returned. However, consummation seems impossible---make of that what…
19 Oct 2011, 12:55
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From: Lee Berman I really don’t understand your obsession with this supposed “incest curse”. The women Severian is attracted to comprise a remarkably even social, geographic and…
19 Oct 2011, 12:49
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From: Lee Berman Typhon was human, so I pick the human one. I don’t such a theory is tenable, because Cilinia was scanned and uploaded to the Whorl at a young age. Since she …
19 Oct 2011, 12:38
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From: Lee Berman You suggested earlier that Wolfe indicated this somewhere in _Urth_. Have you a link to this? I don’t see why not. Wolfe’s aliens are often humanoid, but by …
19 Oct 2011, 12:16
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From: Lee Berman They aren’t angels. For example, they engage in technology transfer with Baldanders, who vivisects women. The alzabo essence as used by the Autarchs is apparen…
19 Oct 2011, 11:54
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From: David Stockhoff Yes, I think so. Probably Talos actually carries out any operations Baldanders needs to carry out on himself — maybe even the surgical fitting of gills. - …
17 Oct 2011, 23:13
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From: David Stockhoff Yes, I think so. Probably Talos actually carries out any operations Baldanders needs to carry out on himself — maybe even the surgical fitting of gills. -…
17 Oct 2011, 23:11
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From: Lee Berman Can they reproduce asexually? I don’t recall that we are told how they reproduce. Actually I lean towards the idea that the undines are created by the sea mons…
17 Oct 2011, 23:00
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From: Lee Berman I doubt whether Wolfe would worry too much about the distinction. Both sides use the alzabo glands, for example. Typhon uses high technology. And for all I kno…
17 Oct 2011, 22:29
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Jerry Friedman has posted the passage from Proust. In that, Suzanne Delage is a woman Proust was meant to meet but never did. Seems like sufficient reason. It leaves them …
17 Oct 2011, 22:23
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From: Jerry Friedman ?I had once been due to go to a dancing lesson, and even to take a small part in a play at her parents' house. But the fear of getting a fit of giggles and a…
17 Oct 2011, 21:52
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From: David Stockhoff The latter, I think. Whatever he has done he has tapped the cellular mechanisms of creatures such as crocodiles and tortoises, which are said to grow forev…
17 Oct 2011, 17:02
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From: Marc Aramini --- On Mon, 10/17/11, Gerry Quinn <gerry at bindweed.com> wrote: > > I don’t agree that the name of the main character in Suzanne Delage is significant, …
17 Oct 2011, 16:49
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From: David Stockhoff He is a man who — inspired by the sea monsters — is trying to make himself into a god by the use of technology. He intends to attain immortality, and, like…
17 Oct 2011, 15:21
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From: Gerry Quinn And (I should have noted) Juturna has no antigravity belt, and she could certainly have benefited from one. Nor, if I recall correctly, does Severian mention a…
17 Oct 2011, 14:27
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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes I dunno... the divisions of life seem remarkably similar! The inhumi are motile and do not photosynthesise; the trees and lianas are the converse. - Ger…
17 Oct 2011, 12:19
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From: Lee Berman He dreams of the undines, and they show him his future, in which he fights Baldanders. The lake is called after Juturna, certainly, and I can’t remember the nam…
17 Oct 2011, 12:16
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From: Lee Berman Where did I ever dispute that that story is a mash-up of the story of Romulus and that of the Jungle Book, perhaps filtered through the perspective of generation…
17 Oct 2011, 12:00
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From: David Stockhoff Sure, they are given the names of divine monsters, and that accords with their behaviour, or at least the behaviour of some of them. I never heard that myt…
17 Oct 2011, 11:51
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From: Marc Aramini Why would Wolfe engage in a complicated, arbitrary, pointless scheme such as this? He is writing his own stories. Science fiction stories. Yes, he e…
17 Oct 2011, 11:31
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From: Lee Berman Wikipedia gives two accounts of Typhon’s origin, and four for Echidna. Of the eight combinations, Echidna is his sister in one and his niece in one. Wikipedia …
16 Oct 2011, 12:18
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From: Lee Berman He certainly becomes effectively immortal - or at least he regenerates, like Doctor Who. He becomes the Conciliator — I wouldn’t call the Conciliator a god as s…
16 Oct 2011, 11:19
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From: David Stockhoff I’m sure it was. A lot of stuff about incest has been posted to the list. Mostly speculating that every woman mentioned in the text is Severian’s sister,…
15 Oct 2011, 21:05
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From: Marc Aramini Surely these things are obvious? We know he had the technology, because the Whorl is loaded with it. It seems obvious that a technology that can prod…
15 Oct 2011, 20:54
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