-
Agreed, Andrew brings up an interesting idea that I hadn't thought much about before. Severian does see a couple guys who look like himself in the crowd at the inn during the Zama…
05 Nov 2010, 12:57
-
I don't think that. But if Wolfe thought he was boring he mind have added a little wind to spruce him up a bit. I don't think that either. But perhaps some do or are just content …
04 Nov 2010, 17:22
-
I'd have to check but I think there are at least 3 remarks on the wind stuff. I agree with James that the very fact of the mention of wind here has meaning. Starting with Sword of…
04 Nov 2010, 11:43
-
Yes, if the mistake is repeated then I suppose this is the most parsimonious answer. Would have been nice (for me anyway) if there was more to it. For some reason Wolfe is uncharac…
22 Oct 2010, 02:10
-
Hm..I admit you've lost me. Cercis siliquastrum is a small tree found in the Middle East and S. Europe. I assume it got its name from Mr. Iscariot's place of suicide. Possible to…
14 Oct 2010, 18:19
-
Me too. Sorta like "The Typhonnnns! dum dit dit dit dum dit dit dit duh duh duh dit." HomerPas- D'oh! I've got a headsache. Margidna- Anyone for more roast Musk? Liscylla- Ca…
07 Oct 2010, 16:06
-
Would seem to be true. Yet we have Echinda worship still strong in Gaon. Coincidence or not that we have a giant, shapeshifting entity in the ocean called The Mother?…
07 Oct 2010, 11:13
-
Clearly it was something they were used to on Urth (and perhaps other planets). Yes. Hence we must suspect the Typhons were not a unified family. That some were working at cross-p…
06 Oct 2010, 12:59
-
For some reason this prompted a Google search and I mostly got references to this propaganda poster- http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/8lcpejdehzdu8d.jpg Reads: The reddest, redde…
01 Oct 2010, 13:00
-
Hah, Thomas. Thanks for my daily chuckle. You'll rarely find me complaining about someone's need to puncture sanctimony. Perhaps there are varying degrees of supernaturality and t…
30 Sep 2010, 18:03
-
Your posts bring up some interesting issues, Jeff. Are my (and your and all others') religious beliefs and standards in issue in here? My intention is to focus very narrowly and s…
30 Sep 2010, 11:57
-
Yes, if Dorcas and the Cumaean are included in the convesation.…
29 Sep 2010, 15:39
-
I am very happy that James is pursuing this line of thought. It was always a pleasure to identify Earth's myths within Urth's legends. It only enriches things to find that Urth's …
29 Sep 2010, 15:03
-
Severian's power seems to express itself differently at different times. There is Herena. Then there is the assassin we see pass backwards through the stages of mummification and…
29 Sep 2010, 11:58
-
Supernatural only to 21st century primitives who managed to use their puny millenium or two of scientific study to advance their understanding of the universe past alchemy, phlogi…
29 Sep 2010, 03:13
-
I'm not sure of your point, Jeff. Is it that Wolfe's work contains powers and processes which are "Increate-given" making them, by definition, beyond science, math or any other pos…
28 Sep 2010, 16:27
-
It might. I think my thoughts have drifted in that direction. However it might also support my current hypothesis that Vodalus and his followers are being directed to ingest dead …
28 Sep 2010, 14:28
-
I find this to be a puzzling sentiment. Surely it doesn't imply that Typhon is not a living being. It could imply the process is outside our current scientific capabilities but we …
28 Sep 2010, 12:29
-
It is the maid playing Holy Katharine who has the oval face and darker complexion. There are some missing connectors. In Dr. Talos' play there is a character named Contessa Carina…
28 Sep 2010, 01:52
-
My pleasure :- ). I feared this misunderstanding but, as usual, I also fear overexplaining in any given post. Quite the contrary; as a devout Catholic I must guess Wolfe finds t…
28 Sep 2010, 01:31
-
Heh, Dan'l is such a meanie. They are on a Search For Spock and he gives them slugs and bugs. ;- )…
27 Sep 2010, 17:45
-
I find the strongest clues to this in Dr. Talos' play (which I admit I found almost impenetrable in my earlier readings of this story). It is laced with demons and giants, Nephilim…
27 Sep 2010, 17:33
-
I find it difficult to understand the semantic distinction between an autarch and a despotic monarch like Typhon. If anything, the autarch seems to rule him/herself less as he/sh…
27 Sep 2010, 16:30
-
Yep. And The Mother and Seawrack are down there eating drowned human sailors and, I think, Neighbor sailors before that. That's the picture I get from the Sun series- a galaxy of…
27 Sep 2010, 13:33
-
In Typhon we see a dried out, thousand year old human body, cells destroyed proteins degraded, somehow able to come to life, rehydrate, re-establish neural connections, organ integ…
26 Sep 2010, 11:10
-
Some interesting thoughts being thrown around about these characters. Typhon not only refers to Urth as "this world" a couple times, he also calls the sun "this sun". Not proof p…
25 Sep 2010, 06:40
-
Jeff, your argument below on the more modest, machine assisted abilities of Typhon is a good one. What isn't addressed, for me, are the similar abilities of the Mandragora. Within …
24 Sep 2010, 13:23
-
I agree with this. The field of comparative mythology seems so fascinating to me. Perhaps Gene Wolfe has no interest in it but hard to believe. We have Flood and Ark myths all a…
23 Sep 2010, 18:25
-
Agreed. But if the sirrocco winds of Typhon-Set were a spring-only phenomenon my skepticism on this theory would be significantly erased. Typhon-Set was a god of wind. There are…
23 Sep 2010, 14:35
-
Andrew Mason: Excellent analysis Andrew! There are a number of mythological stories about virgins and plant impregnation (likely stories, indeed!). But perhaps the most relevan…
23 Sep 2010, 14:01
-
I don't think typhoons are at all relevant. The Greek monster Typhon was mostly characterized by being multi-headed and dragon/snake-like. But his Egyptian cognate, Typhon-Set was …
23 Sep 2010, 13:03
-
Some intriguing points in your post Jeff. For me, Decuman's and Domnicellae's powers seem as only slightly hyper-versions of the person-to-person human interactions of hypnosis a…
23 Sep 2010, 12:41
-
I concur with David that these items are important hints that Typhon is extra-terrestrial in origin. At least as important is Typhon's statement that "I was not born as I am, or …
23 Sep 2010, 02:39
-
I lean toward Roy's explanation of Typhon's "self-aggrandizement". I think his primary audience was the people of the Whorl.…
22 Sep 2010, 18:20
-
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I was not speaking of that encounter. I was speaking of the encounter in UotNS where Severian meets living monarch, Typhon, still strapped to …
21 Sep 2010, 18:11
-
This is the section which bothered me the most. Seems to ignore the possibility that The Whorl was created and sent during the heyday of the First Empire and misses the rather expl…
21 Sep 2010, 16:27
-
Okay! good work you guys. I like the part about sometimes baboon-headed Thoth.…
20 Sep 2010, 11:15
-
Not that I have a solution but a few vague observations: Sounds like a conflict. One person or group reversed the actions of another. So the reversal was only partial. Maybe it…
17 Sep 2010, 13:36
-
I find Typhon's superhuman powers of telepathy and clairvoyance to be quite significant (though most often glossed over in discussions of him). No other characters in BotNS that I …
14 Sep 2010, 19:31
-
Typhon ruled a multi-planet empire. To me the above passage suggests that Typhon installed Scylla as the ruler of another planet and it is that place which has the polytheistic re…
14 Sep 2010, 13:42
-
Apologies. Didn't mean to speak for others. "mouse in their pocket"? I did mention humans from other universe as part of the opinion of the majority but Jeff snipped it. Perhaps …
12 Sep 2010, 11:05
-
Yep, though we do hear the nickname, "Cas" repeated a few times, as Ryan Dunn and I discussed recently. I suspect few first time readers connect the boatman's lost wife, Cas, with…
12 Sep 2010, 02:28
-
Welcome Andrew! I think your observation of how the chapters alternate is good. I often think that chapter names provide more clues to what is going on than what is frequently ackn…
10 Sep 2010, 03:09
-
I very much agree with the latter guess. I think Baldanders is sorta sleepwalking through the life we see him living in the first two books with Dr. Talos to tell him to eat, slee…
07 Sep 2010, 17:55
-
I like this explanation pretty well. Also, the state motto of Texas is "Friendship", based on the Caddo word. Philadelphia seems a longer shot- its name most commonly translated …
06 Sep 2010, 07:50
-
Roy, my apologies. I freely admit that, for me, what is being discussed in this forum are interesting stories and fun puzzles and all that I say about them is spoken in a light-he…
04 Sep 2010, 01:44
-
Aw now Roy! That is just downright mean-spirited! Why the venom? Now, if the whorl characters were Laplanders, your reindeer theory might have some substance. But if the "beef" r…
03 Sep 2010, 19:05
-
p.s. I hope I'm not being too obvious by observing that Wolfe and his wife Rosemary are the likely inspiration for the animal/plant naming convention of Viron.…
03 Sep 2010, 13:27
-
Chenille is French for caterpillar. There is the fabric named chenille which has little caterpillar-like piles to it. We might assume Chenille's name comes from the cotton version…
03 Sep 2010, 13:19
-
Seems to be an individual decision. I find Horn, Sinew, Hoof and Hide sufficiently associated as inedible beef products and family members to find significance in their names. L…
02 Sep 2010, 19:39
Urth Net