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Well, it works for that too. Like I said, one could argue that the religion on which the Chapter is based is not the Catholic Church, but I think that is quite cumbersome and dis…
04 Jun 2010, 19:50
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Absolutely. I hoped that was obvious. Sorry if it wasn't.…
04 Jun 2010, 19:42
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That's what a Visitor _would_ say. Are you watching out for homeboys?…
04 Jun 2010, 19:33
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Well, the concept of needing to confess to a priest as a path to absolution is pretty Catholic, I'd think. If Wolfe only wanted to play with familiar motifs, why include the plot…
04 Jun 2010, 19:29
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Taoism too, right?…
04 Jun 2010, 19:22
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You could just as well ask "How Catholic is the Catholic Church?" Obviously there are parallels with other religions in this or that aspect. It's the whole package that is at iss…
04 Jun 2010, 19:21
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On the other hand, it is possible for a "Catholic Church" to have been established in the Commonwealth without a Jesus (complete with crosses) merely in correspondence to the vib…
04 Jun 2010, 19:04
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True for just about any character in a Wolfe story.…
04 Jun 2010, 17:38
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Doesn't Wolfe undermine the idea that Urth's universe has no Jesus in "The Book of the Long Sun"? Lemur told Silk that Scylla founded the Chapter as a "parody of the state religi…
04 Jun 2010, 17:36
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There's nothing inconsistent about incest between the important characters of Gnosticism (the influence of Egyptian philosphy and myth ensures that). Norea was said in some writi…
04 Jun 2010, 17:07
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Green has an interesting explanation of how this works in There Are Doors. The various dimensions of There Are Doors with some worlds "closer" to each other than others are (lik…
04 Jun 2010, 15:26
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Well, for starters, the Gnostic Christ does not save anyone individually. He saves mankind as a whole through the example of his enlightenment. This is closer to the salvation of…
04 Jun 2010, 04:47
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I think the contention (for me) is that although #1 is true I do not think... 3) Wolfe necessarily sees Severian as a *figurative* stand-in for the Jesus he believes in. The fi…
03 Jun 2010, 23:12
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On the other hand, the intended parallels do pile up. To once again quote Castle of the Otter/Castle of Days: "Many of us have read so often that he was a "humble carpenter"...The…
03 Jun 2010, 20:09
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Well, even more so then.…
03 Jun 2010, 19:56
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He had this vision during his enlightenment by the Outsider (presumably the Increate). Surely the Outsider is the Lord of all the Universes, and could offer a vision from any of …
03 Jun 2010, 19:49
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Pax Romana…
24 May 2010, 17:26
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I suppose it *might* be ideal. But ideal solutions, by definition, are usually impractical. You have cops, but then you have to have judges when someone says the cop reacted impr…
24 May 2010, 16:47
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Well, it is true that a righteous society is a free society, but I guess I understood the issue to be what happens When Subject Lines Go Bad.…
24 May 2010, 15:54
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But then we have to endure threads on the rules of good subject lines. I think it is better to keep the list in line by modeling good behavior rather having self-appointed cops. …
24 May 2010, 15:15
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I have, in the past, attempted to change the subject lines of threads as they moved OT. Maybe half or less of the participants followed. If the particular email that prompted the…
21 May 2010, 14:59
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He has recommended Robert Graves' "The Greek Myths". He's implied that he has not finished "The White Goddess". "Only enough to know he was crazy" was sort of how he phrased it IIR…
20 May 2010, 14:56
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Well, IIRC correctly, Aslan says to the Calorman "Any good deed done for Tash was actually done for me." I don't think this is far removed from "sacrifices made to Tash were actual…
19 May 2010, 21:19
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I made a mess of Paul's quote, let me try again: "Paul's opinion was that: "Idols are NOT truly divine and what is offered to them does not do any good.. But the gentiles sacrific…
19 May 2010, 20:45
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For pagans, the difference between divine and merely "higher" is probably splitting hairs. It is only an important difference for monotheists. Paul's opinion was that: "Idols are …
19 May 2010, 20:43
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Well, it's obvious I haven't re-read to page 74 yet. As page 270, why do you think the ring Bax showed Kate was the onyx and not the wedding band (which I had assumed on my first r…
22 Apr 2010, 22:07
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Yeah, but (assuming the apparition is a "ghost") that Ted didn't get it from the river battle does not preclude his appearance from having something to do with that battle. The clo…
22 Apr 2010, 18:57
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You mean when Bax met Lupine at the river, right? But there is another important river incident that occurred close to Ted's Apparition.The battle royale. In Letter 42, Doris writ…
22 Apr 2010, 15:02
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Well, at least stationary has a corner. A shirt doesn't work. But an envelope has a corner and one might put their initials in the return address.It would have to be a letter *he* …
21 Apr 2010, 19:02
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Not basing this on much, but perhaps the wet thing was wet because it came from the river. That assumes of course that Ted is really dead. J.…
21 Apr 2010, 18:55
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If Ted was there to protect anyone, surely it was to protect Bax. He had already protected him from Ieuan. J.…
21 Apr 2010, 13:37
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The labyrnthian Black House's reminded me of Weer's large, constantly growing house in Peace which had rooms Weer knew of but had trouble or even no idea how to find them. J.…
20 Apr 2010, 22:44
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Well, I *do* think that the Faeri stuff occurred, but (let's face it) if Bax is lying about Faeri then he's lying about having found their mom. But again, how does Mrs Murray come…
20 Apr 2010, 22:24
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The most obvious explanation is that it was a handkerchief into which Ted was crying. That explanation seems *too* obvious in light of that Doris would not name it, but a wolfskin …
20 Apr 2010, 21:48
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On my second read, I think Bax always intended to replace George from the start. Right from letter #2, he gives George precise directions to the house. I think that at that time, h…
20 Apr 2010, 15:27
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I just think the story is lame if the whole thing is a fabrication of Bax's, because --after all-- it already IS a fabrication by Wolfe. It would be like saying everything in the L…
17 Apr 2010, 23:42
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Hmm..good point. But I just don't see how we get Doris around to being Lupine. Granted, Lupine impersonating Doris twice is significant of something. But in each case, we have Dori…
16 Apr 2010, 18:51
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I lept to the conclusion that the letter to Shell was out of chronological order: that Bax wrote it after the event in the car. I intend to pay more attention this time around to w…
16 Apr 2010, 18:38
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Doesn't this work better if Doris body goes off and changes into Lupine, while it is her soul (Mary King) who holds Bax's hand? J.…
16 Apr 2010, 17:58
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Hmmm...Why do you assume a bad smell means a werewolf? I thought it was vampires that had a bad smell. But I never associated the false Doris with Nicholas until now. Incidentally,…
16 Apr 2010, 12:40
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Well, from the start I expected Doris to be more knowledgeable than she was letting on, but at every turn she seemed genuinely clueless about all things Faeri. I admit I'm troubled…
13 Apr 2010, 15:30
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\>> -Who is Mary King? She’s mentioned twice (letters 21 and 25). I'm going to try reading letter 21 as if it actually belongs after 25. There is a Mary King's Ghost Fest held i…
12 Apr 2010, 04:16
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I think I did. She didn't know that Ted was a sorcerer. She didn’t realize the significance of the ring or that Ted would return to claim it. She was under the influence of Bax's…
12 Apr 2010, 04:03
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Gwern said My working hypothesis is that the body Lupine was putting back together during the final battle was George's. Dave said: He might have already been a werewolf when h…
11 Apr 2010, 00:42
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Still, thinking about this. The house and property are not George's "blessing". Millie is, which George is unable to appreciate. And Bax impersonates George to get it. As for thei…
09 Apr 2010, 22:09
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For twins, that really wouldn't say anything unless one of them got his undergraduate degree 10 minutes before the other. It's just whichever was the better student.…
09 Apr 2010, 21:53
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They were twins. Fraternal. And when Esau came out first, Jacob was clutching his heel. But Jacob does imposture Esau to steal his blessing. (Oops I see Dan'l already noted this) …
09 Apr 2010, 21:50
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After considering this a bit, I think George must have known about their father before he left for Medicine Man. He comes into the reading of the will accusing Bax of attempting to…
09 Apr 2010, 19:43
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I thought it was Robert Borski who nailed this one first. J.…
09 Apr 2010, 19:20
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1) The ring that Bax finds in the fish is a numen storage device or becomes one when Bax touches it after he has aquired numen but dowsing the long-light. . One could argue that th…
09 Apr 2010, 18:35
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