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Thanks for that question. A couple hours ago I would have answered that it seems most likely that Severian is deliberately hiding the knowledge and I would have discussed some poss…
21 Oct 2011, 17:08
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I think this is a good post Gerry, which reveals a lot. The funny thing is that I would say it is your analysis of Wolfe seems to consist of snippets interpreted in an exotic way. …
21 Oct 2011, 16:40
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At a glance, this theory sounds as insane as any of my theories do. But, for me it gains a lot of credence if we can likewise consider that Father Inire's sowing of wild oats gave…
21 Oct 2011, 13:04
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I had recently suggested that I thought Wolfe found Severian's meal of the old Autarch's brain to be as diabolical as the Thecla meal and some other examples of consciousness tra…
21 Oct 2011, 03:20
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Not at all. They are welcome as they may assist me in polishing the theory and mostly because they are not designed to set up strawman arguments to make my theory easier to kno…
21 Oct 2011, 03:05
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Yes. It can be difficult to keep in mind (more difficult for some than others) to remember that there is no real Severian who is messing up the story and missing things and/or tryi…
20 Oct 2011, 20:58
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Yep, I understand. strictly for me, the preponderance of evidence on the other side requires me to get around that scene. Perhaps he isn't really dead. Or perhaps this particular …
20 Oct 2011, 16:08
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It isn't a idea which personally bothers me so much but I still get the impression Wolfe himself is bothered. Adding to the Mr. Million and Typhon examples of the horror aspect of …
20 Oct 2011, 13:48
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Why sad, Marc? I've noticed for a while now that you and James are on the same page on this. Perhaps you have been the proverbial ships who pass in the night, missing each other'…
20 Oct 2011, 02:00
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The question for me is whether Severian would report his recognition of Father Inire to us if he did spot the identity. And since Severian has been working closely with Father In…
20 Oct 2011, 01:56
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As I see it the difference lies in that there is no consciousness in a liver or cornea. If a head transplant or brain transplant seems rather horrible, a partial version of that …
20 Oct 2011, 01:38
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Hm. Yes. I agree Hiero-types, like their earth angel analogs, do a lot of cruel, even horrific things. We understand that Judeo-Christianity has demonized and uglified the deiti…
19 Oct 2011, 15:20
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The process with the old Autarch does, superficially, seem more benign than the Vodalus banquet and the voluntary aspect is probably part of it. But in my view, the old Autarch is …
19 Oct 2011, 14:56
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Perhaps the monsters figure in if we add Adam's first mate Lilith (Jahi) to the mix. After the failed relationship, she mated with a fallen angel and produced many of earth's my…
19 Oct 2011, 04:47
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Yes, but I think the question is whether these aliens are entirely a product of evolution on other planets or whether they are humans who left Urth in earlier waves, mutated, evolv…
18 Oct 2011, 19:01
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I tend to agree with this. There is some suggestion that the Hiero race was formed from a lower species (the watery origin of Barbatus and Famulimus?) but generally I think there i…
18 Oct 2011, 12:57
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Given what we are shown of Tzadkiel, The Mother and Great Scylla I think we can deduce it. Sounds like budding, which is a form of asexual reproduction. Again, we see that s…
18 Oct 2011, 02:16
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I do not agree. Are you refering to the alzabo-like substance which transfers memories from the old Autarch to Severian? My interpretation of the story does not allow for this s…
18 Oct 2011, 01:49
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Given what we later learn, I think Severian's observation of strange scars on Baldanders' neck as a non-recognition of gills is a pretty good guess. Dr. Talos' assertion that Bald…
17 Oct 2011, 14:53
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I think David has a point here. Nobody has said the gods of the Whorl were exact replicas of their mythological namesakes except you. All that was suggested is that if they explic…
17 Oct 2011, 13:35
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What dreams does sleeping next to Baldanders inspire in Severian? What is the name of the lake Baldanders lives next to? WHat is the name of the town of the lakemen who are sub…
17 Oct 2011, 11:20
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David, were you hinting at Tzadkiel> David, were you hinting at Tzadkiel (who appears in male and in female form and would seem to It really is eerie. My head is still swimm…
17 Oct 2011, 05:19
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Wow, that is insightful, David. In pondering the Sun series over the past years I came to be aware of perhaps the most important aspect of monotheism. We can recognize that the…
17 Oct 2011, 02:11
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A nice synthesis of these two issues. This mirrors my own view, which is that there are implications of partial mythological mapping througout the text of the Sun series but noth…
16 Oct 2011, 20:49
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That is such an excellent question on several levels! When DO the powers-that-be first know that Severian is the one? Very early I think. He finds Triskele outside the Bear To…
16 Oct 2011, 02:58
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Gerry Quinn: Heh, well. I don't think Typhon was having much sex with Piaton's body since it was in restraints until their (first) death on the couch. But who knows. We know…
16 Oct 2011, 01:08
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Well, I can tell you that the title of that "book" (really a collection of essays) is misleading. The vast majority of it is about other WOlfe works. It is pretty short. Shorter…
15 Oct 2011, 15:54
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I feel the discussion needs appreciation of another auctorial level for more complete comprehension. While the Sun series is SF and contains politico- religious philosophy it als…
15 Oct 2011, 15:35
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Sorry Jeff, but I don't know what you are talking about. I didn't alter your quotation and my post was clearly meant to agree with your assertion that Severian did not get food f…
15 Oct 2011, 09:59
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It might be tongue-in-cheek but it's not half bad. From my Father Inire theory perspective we would expect both Severian's grandmother and grandfather to take a similar view of h…
15 Oct 2011, 04:04
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IIRC, I think his hunger gets no relief until he finds some corn in an abandoned shepherd's bothy. He leaves the Pelerine scarf as an attempt at repayment. This scene is rarely d…
15 Oct 2011, 03:42
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I guess we can all present our own ideas but I think the gulf is too great between those who think Jesus Christ The Saviour existed on Urth and those who don't to allow any convin…
14 Oct 2011, 20:34
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I think this has been discussed in the past. That vision does seem to be of a Jesus-like figure. But severian has been described (by Wolfe) as a Christ- like figure and we can be p…
14 Oct 2011, 17:39
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I absolutely agree that this is an important aspect of interpreting the James Jordan interview. Wolfe seems to tread more carefully and politely with him than almost any other inte…
14 Oct 2011, 16:50
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Sounds like we agree! :-)…
14 Oct 2011, 16:27
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From: larry miller Interesting idea. My instinct is that Cyriaca’s story relates to a much earlier time, and she makes no mention of Typhon but refers instead to a machine-domin…
14 Oct 2011, 15:25
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I think this piggybacks to themes addressed with larry miller in the "Faterh Inire" thread. Wolfe has said he wrote BotNS with the idea of a series of universes created by a sequ…
14 Oct 2011, 12:51
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I think the best answer is whatever gives you that "click" sense of just feeling right. If the surgery hypothesis does that, you should go with that. For me, the seeds of the en…
14 Oct 2011, 12:29
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I have overstated the congruence a bit but Severian describes the old boatman as: "bowed and shrunken by age..until he could hardly have weighed more than a boy of ten." The…
14 Oct 2011, 02:23
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okay! though there have been times in the past where the discussion got nasty and even personally disrespectful to some contributors. It's been my personal goal to try to steer a…
14 Oct 2011, 02:11
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Well, I think I am willing to pursue Father Inire further than anyone else in the world (except, perhaps, Gene Wolfe and he ain't talkin'). At the risk of sounding argumentati…
13 Oct 2011, 22:46
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13 Oct 2011, 22:14
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Ryan, I think we are basically in agreement. I don't think we can always tells where Severian's unreliability is due to him being deliberately deceptive or just that he is a bit d…
13 Oct 2011, 15:12
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Good points, Andrew. But we must remember that Severian is writing his story after being both Thecla and becoming Autarch. He surely knows most if not all of the places where Fath…
13 Oct 2011, 14:16
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The Jungle Guide is the little guy in the mask, the shaman, who leads Vodalus' group through the jungle after leaving the ziggurat ("isangoma" is an African word for shaman). It ma…
13 Oct 2011, 13:40
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I think this is right. I think David Stockhoff came to a similar conclusion a year or two ago... Or perhaps that was a discussion of the Shadow Children from 5HoC. Doesn't matter…
12 Oct 2011, 20:40
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Yes. The pieces fit together. Heh, funny! Actually I agree with you that Borski's 20 pages of Solar Labyrinth "onomastics" where he connects every name in BotNS with every ot…
12 Oct 2011, 16:17
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Yes. I think this cuts to the crux of the debate. For some readers, Wolfe's work seems to be a collection of rippingly good yarns. Any perception of an overarching philosophy and …
12 Oct 2011, 15:33
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Sorry I missed your post Larry. Some interesting ideas! There are a few Latin words for stones and rocks. "Calculus" is most specifically for "pebble" which became associated with …
12 Oct 2011, 15:09
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I'm thinking James' question might have had a whimsical tone rather than being meant as a strict, literal query but I do think you are right Marc. Thus the "secret of the inhumi".…
12 Oct 2011, 12:44
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