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I think the main meaning of this episode is the slightly cruel joke about Nicarete being left to wait on the Autarch's whim once again, after spending her life waiting in the ant…
17 Apr 2011, 22:31
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Some supporting evidence that Severian is hard to interrupt when he gets into the flow of writing: "I have also ordered that Nicarete be brought to me, and when I was writing of …
17 Apr 2011, 20:13
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She gave her name as Thoe, who is the Nereis of waves or voyage. (I can't find any significance in 'Papamarkos', which seems to be an ordinary Greek name.) Also, why would she …
17 Apr 2011, 17:33
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'Dumpy' yes, when she was the maid... but earlier, when he compared his glimpse of her to 'Dr. Papamarkos', he thought she was 'rounder'. Nor was he apparently repelled in the c…
17 Apr 2011, 17:14
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The Nereid explained her motivation. She wanted to marry the Nebraskan Professor. "You cannot imagine what village life is like for such a girl, who has no money, no dowry. Th…
17 Apr 2011, 13:25
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From: "Andrew Dubbeld" <andy at foisdin.com> [SPOILERS BELOW, for anyone who hasn't read it] My understanding is: The dead girl was the maid at the inn where he stayed, and to …
17 Apr 2011, 08:16
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From: <soloviev at irit.fr> Bart Everson: Welcome! This was written years (decades) afterwards, though. I don't think it can really be taken as characterising the general case…
13 Apr 2011, 23:48
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From: Lane Haygood No, my characters are not like me. I can only imagine what I would be like as a literary character. A bookish, somewhat awkward lawyer with a penchant for …
09 Mar 2011, 17:50
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Aliens are easy compared to those inscrutable women! But seriously, I guess the answer is that aliens will probably not be reading your books just yet, but women might be. An aut…
09 Mar 2011, 17:19
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I agree he gets it about right. Wolfe is unlikely to win any awards for feminist SF, but accusations of misogyny are a bit strong, unless misogyny is defined so widely as to be us…
09 Mar 2011, 14:01
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At the end of the day, if it's for sale it's because the author sold it or left it to someone who is selling it. Copyright initially belongs entirely to the author, and it's up …
07 Mar 2011, 23:08
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From: Ashley Crill Reading through RttW last night, and came across this quote by Windcloud at Horn's trial: "I was one of those who boarded your whorl when it neared our sun. …
28 Feb 2011, 18:43
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There is, or used to be, a mathematical notation that says: a : b :: c : d meaning a is to b as c is to d. It is used originally for ratios, and by analogy for comparisons, synon…
21 Feb 2011, 13:05
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I don't think so. Most sundials we see today were made in modern times. They might have archaic mottoes put on them. Probably the same would be true of sundials in Severian's t…
20 Feb 2011, 03:06
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Hmm, I have never been inclined to take Cyriaca's story as other than a myth with perhaps a grain of truth to it. (Though Cordwainer Smith's future history contains a similar ev…
20 Feb 2011, 01:31
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Maybe... but I think if you tackled him on this subject you would be fighting him on his home ground, because he can make a reasonable case, even if it is obtuse and pedantic! I…
20 Feb 2011, 01:17
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You make a good point [though I don't see what is ambiguous about "he was the smallest of those dead" - but then again I don't remember the context]. A real human language must s…
19 Feb 2011, 18:09
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Not really, since 'lepton' is now an English word. Still, he's clearly a lightweight ;-) I think you misread me. I don't believe there is any reference to actual Latin. As you…
19 Feb 2011, 17:59
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I suppose he might say that 'lepton' is now an English word, signifying a member of a family of sub-nuclear particles, the best known of which is the electron. I read that too. …
19 Feb 2011, 13:14
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Yeah... it really brings the androgyny out ;-) - Gerry Quinn…
15 Feb 2011, 21:17
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I wasn't being critical. I was just making the point that Wolfe is often pretty straightforward if people would just let him be ;-) At a basic level the horse imagery comes from…
15 Feb 2011, 16:12
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It's only a dedication. And sure, nobody will get EVERYTHING. That probably applies to books much simpler than Wolfe's. Doubtless there are subtleties we miss in See Spot Run.…
15 Feb 2011, 12:58
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Sure, they speak English. That doesn't change his name. You seem to be arguing that his name is Jean... then insisting that it is actually Gene. Doesn't make a lot of sense. N…
15 Feb 2011, 00:56
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From: James Wynn On the other hand, let me posit something that I believe is close to accurate. Dream-travel involves the formation of an astral body for the soul of the travele…
14 Feb 2011, 18:38
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I disagree that there's evidence for assimilation. The head of the household is still called Maitre. Besides, if he is called Gene because his name is spelt Jean then his name i…
14 Feb 2011, 18:04
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You're right, of course - the Woolf and the Wilhelm make it clear that the shelving must be alphabetic. I'm not crazy about "Jean", though - that is French for 'John' and is pro…
13 Feb 2011, 20:53
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I doubt it... though perhaps it is Eugene Loup ;-) The family is of French origin. The head of the family is referred to as Maitre, and while the name David could be English or F…
13 Feb 2011, 20:00
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Well, now you see the source of my ill-humour. I am surrounded by fey folks dancing around talking about their conversations with fairies, and all I can do it sit in a corner sco…
13 Feb 2011, 15:53
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I don't think it goes on about Typhon wanting an heir more than you would expect of something that is significant in setting up the backstory - i.e. a big family of gods with no …
13 Feb 2011, 14:44
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My objection is simply that I think the things you see as evidence have other, better explanations. Silk's dreams, the vision sent him by Kypris, the words spoken by Mamelta - I…
12 Feb 2011, 15:34
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I don't think the position of Yesod on generalised spacetime maps is intended to be inexplicable or paradoxical. A lot of these arguments you make for inexplicability and paradox…
12 Feb 2011, 15:28
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Maybe it was the dream-travel tech equivalent of an aquastor? - Gerry Quinn…
12 Feb 2011, 15:11
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Nice list, James. Couple of points relating to the bits below: I'm not convinced that "No human embryos at all" should be taken as applying without exception to every city in the…
12 Feb 2011, 15:09
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That could be valid in a universe in which the Outsider for some reason chooses always to send visions by way of minor neurological catastrophes. However I don't think we have an…
12 Feb 2011, 14:59
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Those are not events which are contradictory or inexplicable. They are events for which it is not clear which of two possibilities is the case - a completely different situation…
12 Feb 2011, 14:38
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I am talking about the application of Bayesian-type arguments to adjust our prior assessment of the probability that Silk is genetically related to Typhon, based on our observati…
12 Feb 2011, 14:23
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You think the Outsider is Baldanders? Because that's who the marionette represents in Severian's dream. Fair enough, though I was on the way there. Let's say it becomes obvious…
11 Feb 2011, 18:26
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By all means, if in the context of the book it is rational to believe in miracles, however defined. For example, I think that in BotLS Silk is enlightened by the Outsider, and C…
11 Feb 2011, 17:19
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I didn't say that at all. What I'm saying is that a 'nuts and bolts' explanation - the Ploughman's explanation, if you like - needs to be there. Occasionally an author may throw…
11 Feb 2011, 16:52
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Well, you started off by saying that computer programs are not people, and went on to say Typhon wouldn't have cared about Pas. [By the way, I wasn't going to bring it up as I do…
11 Feb 2011, 16:20
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So you are saying the Outsider really is a wooden toy? After all, that's what the dream tells us and we certainly didn't know it. I've re-read the passage containing the dream, …
11 Feb 2011, 15:46
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Not to Blue... - Gerry Quinn…
11 Feb 2011, 15:04
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This does not follow at all from the absence of multiple Silks. (At least not without the addition of various other postulates.) The above is no more than an assertion that peop…
11 Feb 2011, 14:36
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Why not Olive? Or the dead woman in the tube across the way? - Gerry Quinn…
11 Feb 2011, 14:26
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I tend to doubt it, mainly because while surgical accidents do occur in which the wrong leg is amputated, such a scenario lacks plausibility when it comes to scanning the head of…
11 Feb 2011, 14:21
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All we know is that Tussah spent a lot on a special embryo. Everything else is inference. Leadership (and perhaps a propensity to hate corruption), with the intention to defeat…
11 Feb 2011, 14:08
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Suppose we accept your argument that Typhon had a particular disdain for computer programs (though it makes it very odd that he had digitised versions of his family made to accom…
11 Feb 2011, 13:43
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In Silk's vision of his parents, his biological father is described as tall and blue-eyed (i think Wolfe tells us this to indicate the biological relationship). Conspicuous by i…
11 Feb 2011, 13:12
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[Timing of Pas's plan] The problem is the plan couldn't really have involved a long scouting period, because of the disintegrating state of the Whorl. The Whorl seems to be at or…
11 Feb 2011, 12:38
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I don't agree with you there. Most people in Viron seem to consider both the gods and the chems real people. Taluses probably less so, I suppose. Black mechanics may disagree, …
11 Feb 2011, 03:18
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