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Well, of course I do read Wolfe but he takes a *lot* of pretty obvious steps to signal that his narrators are unreliable. First, he tells the story in first person, he sets up the…
09 Apr 2005, 19:19
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Nathan, you are coming in a late and I don't want to restart this conversation since I have already said that Dan'l and others have a point (but only if "The Watchmen" is deeply …
09 Apr 2005, 11:57
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That's the one, but more so at the concept that "us vs them" thinking can be tagged to a particular category of the human race or to a philosophic category. "Us vs Them" thinking…
05 Apr 2005, 10:46
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Well, if this is true then it could be one of the reasons for all the Christ references around Severian. Isaac is also a Christ-figure ala the recent discussion regarding him bei…
05 Apr 2005, 07:14
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Hmmmm "Us vs Them" thinking rears its ugly head in a most ironic way. :-) ~ Crush…
03 Apr 2005, 22:40
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----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy C. Lackey" "And if there's life on other planets Then I'm sure that He must know, And He's been there once already And has died to sav…
31 Mar 2005, 10:43
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I don't know why that would be. The Cold Urth generations are surely much less fruitful, die earlier, and lose more in childhood than the New Urth generations or generations on p…
24 Mar 2005, 21:16
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Okay. But for all we know, he may be referring to Blue and Green and other such colonies founded by the Whorl. In that case, it is hardly a thriving empire. Doesn't this quote s…
24 Mar 2005, 11:32
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Crush countered: Very good point, excellent reference. I can see how you can read it that way if you choose to. However, I understood "many of your people" to be a fraction of a…
23 Mar 2005, 15:06
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I hope I didn't say I thought Moore is/was a fascist. I said I believe THE WATCHMEN is fascist. The interpretations that ameliorate its most straightforward reading have made me …
23 Mar 2005, 05:47
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I've never met or read a Jewish Rabbi or secular religion scholar that did not find the Isaac sacrifice problematic. But I can assure you as an authority that Fundamentalist Chri…
22 Mar 2005, 22:30
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Hm. You are aware that for the Hierodules those unborn numbers have actually lived, right? It is not supposition for them as it would be for you and me and Hitler and Stalin and …
22 Mar 2005, 21:59
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I've not yet read these series though I have read the New Sun books, and was wondering if those who have would be interested in sharing their thoughts re: -Which of these two yo…
22 Mar 2005, 21:34
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Since my copies are inaccessible to me right now, I'll have to defer to your rendition of that (and I would like it if it were true). But my memory of the ending is more of an I…
22 Mar 2005, 11:01
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Well, Zvi, now there are *three* interpretations of "The Watchmen". Perhaps it ought to have its own list. Nevertheless, characters do what they will and stories often go beyond …
22 Mar 2005, 08:41
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I don't think TWK is centrally about Nordic mythology. It is about knighthood: a concept that developed under Christianity. I don't think "knighthood" can be dealt with separate …
22 Mar 2005, 08:10
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And then Blattid posted a spirited and thoughtful defense of "The Watchmen" graphic novel although I must say I'm far from convinced. The Comedian is not a fascist. He's a misand…
22 Mar 2005, 07:15
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"cyn" is Icelandic for people, race, and yes "kin" as in people related to each other and by extrapolation "my kin" or relatives. Over is from Indoeuropean, so AFAIK there is no …
22 Mar 2005, 06:14
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I'd be interested in your explanation of how it was "about" fascism rather than founded on it. I'm not sure how you can say Alan Moore did not **embrace** the most fascistic eleme…
21 Mar 2005, 15:49
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1. He may be a psycho but he done what had to be done. 2. He took a liberty, but the end justifies the means. 3. He is evil and billions died cause of what he did. There's another…
21 Mar 2005, 09:21
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That's true. And I don't think we should jettison all that examination with the idea that all choices are merely the pursuit of "happiness" which is defined as "that which we pur…
20 Mar 2005, 21:16
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Well, "non-human" *now* perhaps. I understood that Baldanders' growth was technologically induced in a bid for eternal life. Welcome, Andrew. Perhaps you will be the one to final…
14 Mar 2005, 16:53
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I think Setr, Garsecg, Abel, Valfather, and Michael, are all in a sense Arthur himself. I suppose it could be both at once but I think it is absolutely significant that Valfather …
28 Feb 2005, 13:13
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My personal inclination (not ready to offer a proof yet) is that Sinew was conceived on the Whorl, probably in the Calde's Palace. But not as simply as any of us were conceived. ~…
24 Feb 2005, 14:32
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I had just sat down to post something about this and looky here... Yeah. I was able to find with the quote you provided. I missed it the first time through. It had a ">" at the st…
23 Feb 2005, 17:05
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I'm not arguing with him (yet). But I did not find the information at the location he provided, so it is possible that he may have already tipped his hand to his mortality. I have…
22 Feb 2005, 16:18
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Are you talking about paperback or hardcover? I'm looking at the HC version on Amazon Search Inside, and I don't see any reference to Nettle being pregnant on that page. http://ww…
22 Feb 2005, 13:13
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In case Kieran's post doesn't "take" I'll offer this one. Is Sinew be Marrow's son? Consider: 1) Sinew doesn't "quite" fit with Horn's name. Not the way Hoof and Hide do. But it …
21 Feb 2005, 15:29
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Questions off the beaten track will persist as long as there are no legitimate interesting topics to discuss. As long as the topics are mildly interesting are they so much worse th…
21 Feb 2005, 15:22
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Basically, it does not take into account an Einstienian view of the universe in which time itself is dimension just like space. (and how could Laplace have known about that?) If t…
21 Feb 2005, 12:49
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What is your definition of "well-adjusted"? The word implies an objective goal to which one would "adjust". Depending on one's criteria, a well-adjusted person might bully and mole…
21 Feb 2005, 04:06
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That question will be answered for you in "The Wizard". Start bullying your library. ----- Original Message -----…
19 Feb 2005, 10:34
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Having watched plenty of Star Trek episodes, watched the movie "Twelve Monkeys", and read the story of Cassandra, I know that if such a document were authentic, it would end up tha…
18 Feb 2005, 05:45
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Put so fruit in a jar and tie the jar to a stake. The monkey grabs the fruit but cannot extract his hand while he holds it. He must drop the fruit to escape but he never does (at l…
15 Feb 2005, 07:54
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Sure we can -- Jesus said we were "blessed" if we did -- but that desire strikes me as quite different from the desires to eat "whatever I like" (note that that idiom wasn't picked…
14 Feb 2005, 18:26
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The thing that bothers me about this is that is clumps all desires into the same bin. It gathers my (once a week or so) desire to run away from home leaving my wife and children to…
09 Feb 2005, 16:21
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Well, I don't think we ever saw Lothur. Who knows what he would have looked like to Able? Lothur's origin in Wolfe's world is as confused as it is in Norse mythology. In THE WIZARD…
09 Feb 2005, 08:21
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I think it was the Apostle Paul who suggested that the pagan gods were demons. In the only quote I know of about this, Wolfe said he believed that they existed but the only mistake…
08 Feb 2005, 13:36
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I assume you are talking about Valfather appearing as "a bright shadow"? Very Platonic. Perhaps it is a Scholastic view of the gods?…
08 Feb 2005, 13:24
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Hmmm...seems like a pretty cynical philosophy. It works for all the choices people never have to make and begins to teeter when we consider all the ones they do. How does it explai…
07 Feb 2005, 06:55
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"Posing arguments for" and advocating to two very different things. In The Short Sun, Marrow offers *justifications* for slavery, but Wolfe presents Marrow as part of the problem o…
05 Feb 2005, 09:46
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I don't know the whole history of Behaviorism[2], but wasn't it most popularized in B.F. Skinner's "Beyond Freedom & Dignity"? He is hardly a fringe personality in the science of B…
02 Feb 2005, 11:14
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But since a camouflage device can always get better and better (particularly since our A.I.'s creators can experiment to discover the chinks in its disguise) it is a standard that …
01 Feb 2005, 14:44
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Yes, but to be fair Turing's criteria is just as subjective. Roughly, "can a computer succeed in impersonating a human person well enough to fool humans." Where is the "control" he…
01 Feb 2005, 12:43
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But the very term "the imitation game" suggests that in tFHoC maybe...just maybe...long before the Long Sun and the Short Sun...Wolfe was considering the Turing's postulates in ter…
28 Jan 2005, 14:13
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Well, there is a constant influx of colonists from Earth. So it is possible the soldier reviewing VRT's case has only recently arrived. I've always been secretly attracted to the i…
27 Jan 2005, 15:09
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Hmmmm...I hadn't thought of the possible point Wolfe may be making about humanity and the ability to use tools. Is he asking whether the Annese's inability to use tools prevents th…
27 Jan 2005, 13:21
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I take back my previous post. You are a troll, and ought to be banned. Whether you will be or not, I am creating a rule to send your posts directly to the Deleted folder. ~ Crus…
19 Jan 2005, 11:22
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I'm almost embarrassed to broach this subject since some people believe I'm as guilty of this as anyone, however... In my opinion, you have lost your way in Google. It's powers of…
19 Jan 2005, 09:59
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Heh heh. A talking cat becomes an ambassador to a giant. His advices leads to said giant's death -- in several senses his masters do take over his castle. The cat procures a over-…
17 Jan 2005, 12:53
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