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Or holograms? Wolfe does invoke them in the first few chapters and eidolons can shatter and become silver shards or something like that. Anyway, I guess they gain real substance …
21 Jul 2010, 23:38
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sorry, another copy of this was filed under subject #. Typo. I think Severian dies and is resurrected as an eidolon several times (probably five). Oh, yes, I'd forgotten that …
21 Jul 2010, 11:41
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I'm not seeing that Idas has gills though she does have concealed web feet. I think that is a damn good guess. Especially since Severian lays that skull at the threshold of his …
20 Jul 2010, 22:54
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Wow, that is a very interesting consideration. Severian has various superhuman powers...could each of them have been endowed during his duplication as an eidolon? If so, perhaps …
20 Jul 2010, 18:18
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That is a funny name. Like something from Monty Python, I think. And yes, the comparison of Severian to Ymar has been made in the past. Some even think perhaps Ymar was the first…
19 Jul 2010, 13:23
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Yes, Prometheus is the perfect example to help me clarify what I am trying to get to. Thanks. To his Greek believers Prometheus is the one who created humanity, invented arts an…
19 Jul 2010, 13:10
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Yes, considering the "waves of gravitation" emitted by the onrushing New Sun that could be the force which kills off the giant monsters. Or perhaps some newly risen continent has …
19 Jul 2010, 04:12
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This is all good but not (I think) answering the question which is being asked. Perhaps we've all seen the Christian bumper sticker which reads: "I know the Future. God wins". So…
19 Jul 2010, 03:34
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Yes, thanks, that is correct. Sorry, confused with Ottoman.…
18 Jul 2010, 06:06
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I do agree with this conclusion. Most important in my disagreement is the sense I have that this story was written (and meant to be read) through a Christian lens. Severian may be…
18 Jul 2010, 05:13
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I agree. If Inire was described as really tall and beautiful there might be an obvious case for him being a hierodule. But he is seems significantly different than B, F and O. Sev…
16 Jul 2010, 14:34
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He also drives them off the Whorl. He drives them off the Whorl using heat and drought. This was a big part of my suggestion that the name Pas is derived from the Babylonian god/…
15 Jul 2010, 00:27
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John Watkins: Nice post John. My thinking has leaned in the same direction, heavily influenced by the (surprisingly) hard SF, (shockingly) foresighted 1972 book, The Gods Themse…
13 Jul 2010, 17:11
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I think Severian bears quite a resemblance to Number Five (as Phaedria quite resembles Thecla). Number Five's real name is Gene Wolfe. Is it so far fetched that Inire is father to…
13 Jul 2010, 16:12
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Cliff Judge: I I don't think the old Autarch is involved in picking Severian. He is a failed New Sun-bringer himself. I think he is old and wants to glean just a bit of glory or…
12 Jul 2010, 19:44
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James Wynn, I liked your previous post about names. I also think A.P. Marques raises a legitimate concern about a Fenrir origin. Other authors are likely to distort to disguise a m…
12 Jul 2010, 19:11
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I like the possibility of Fenrir as a name origin for Fr. Inire too. I also agree that suggesting Inire could escape Urth whenever he wanted is not capturing the spirit of the sug…
12 Jul 2010, 13:44
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A.P.M.:> Sure, but that is not the point I am getting at. The question I'm asking I think what the Increate wants is not just for the White Fountain to save the sun, but for Se…
09 Jul 2010, 21:13
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I think the name Jahi in E & G is a reference to the Persian/Zorastrian goddess/demon of that name. She is known for lasciviousness and as a "polluting whore" and the source of th…
09 Jul 2010, 20:58
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Oh, some further thoughts on monkeys and Inire- I agree that "dog-faced baboon" is the likely reference for the cynocephalus. I think it might tie in with the Egyptian god Thoth wh…
09 Jul 2010, 17:53
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Roy I appreciate your efforts to ground all discussion in direct references from the text. I certainly welcome the generation of a theory which explains all these monkey references…
09 Jul 2010, 15:55
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I was checking on this and found that Melek Taus is specifically associated with Azezel the fallen peacock angel. Similar name but distinct from the non-fallen Tzadkiel. It looks l…
09 Jul 2010, 14:22
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I can agree with this. I'll further suggest that in reading this work of science fiction, we have a spectrum of preferences ranging from the more scientific to the more fiction/a…
08 Jul 2010, 04:18
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Thank you for that correction Mo. I re-did the research and I was in error. Rosemary and sweet/dead nettle are separate genuses (genii?) within the mint family and I got them conf…
08 Jul 2010, 03:53
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"claimed" is such a harsh word, Roy. So final and legalistic. I prefer "suggested" or "offered possibility". Anyway I don't think you have the right mind set for how such a thing…
07 Jul 2010, 20:27
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Well, the archetypes for hierodules would be Barbatus and Famulimus, (not sure about Ossipago, I think he is different). They are very tall outer space people who are supernatural…
07 Jul 2010, 19:49
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Yeah, Borski was on this list, before my time, in the early 2000's I think it was. I think there is sort of a concensus that he took some of his ideas and ran with them so far and …
07 Jul 2010, 13:04
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D.S.>Is there anything monkeylike about noses touching chins? I did previously post this pic of a proboscis monkey http://smackamack.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/proboscis-monkey-…
07 Jul 2010, 02:27
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JW- Where does Inire display carnal interest in young girls? Well, this is where my discussion of comfort level comes in. If you are comfortable not understanding Father Inire, no…
06 Jul 2010, 14:43
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Ryan, some have been on this list for a LONG time. Many are content with their reading of BotNS and there is no new theory strong enough to meddle with that contentment. As it shou…
06 Jul 2010, 02:47
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My guess is that they are a bit higher in status than journeyman but (of course) below masters. They go by the title of "Brother". Journeymen seem to call each other by first name.…
04 Jul 2010, 04:33
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Those are reasonable arguments. I have nothing against them. It just appears to me that the purpose of the Second Amendment was to allow regulated militias to function. This has li…
04 Jul 2010, 03:55
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Well, we could try to count the mentioned Great Beasts, see if they add up to 17. Abaia, Erebus, Arioch, Scylla, Ouroboros, Kraken,... can we come up with 11 more? Not without deb…
04 Jul 2010, 03:36
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I think Wolfe cannot be too specific in regard to this as being too explicit would negate a necessary mythological essence of their nature. But I think we can piece together a n…
02 Jul 2010, 20:05
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There is a classic A.E. Van Vogt story called The Weapon Shop which addresses this issue using that interpretation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shop Great pulp SF story…
02 Jul 2010, 17:38
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Roy- That is your value Roy! Even in sarcasm and skepticism you are very helpful as a sounding board. Your comment did force me to consider the gender aspect of shape changing a…
30 Jun 2010, 12:37
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Yes, Ultan is a curator. And like some other candidates, Ultan's eyes are obscured. I think the dark haired woman in the grave is some version of Catherine. Why does Severian see …
29 Jun 2010, 13:13
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I read the ending very differently. I think Phaedria has long moved on and that is recognized by #5. My understanding is that Mr. Million and his successors are exceedingly nar…
24 Jun 2010, 14:39
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Very nice post Son O'Witz! I think Baldanders also calls it a "monument of superstition" or something like that. While the symbolism is poignant, I (too?) think the sapphire enc…
23 Jun 2010, 11:38
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I find Gene Wolfe's work to often be veiled but detectably autobiographical. I must guess references to violet-eyed beauties were inspired by Elizabeth Taylor, famous for that col…
21 Jun 2010, 02:48
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As the theater troupe passes thorugh the wall, they meet Jonah who offers to join their conversation and enlighten them further about the Wall. He tells a story about how Urth's an…
14 Jun 2010, 02:07
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I think Wolfe has confirmed that his geographic model for the Commonwealth was South America and I think Nessus as Buenos Aires. But I think he also has said that his inspiration f…
08 Jun 2010, 15:53
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If people have suggested that the eagles represent the United States, that's just Jerry Friedman Well, I am a Tolkein lover and was only being tongue-in-cheek critical. Still, he…
07 Jun 2010, 18:28
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Jeff Wilson posts: I'm not clear on how this passage contradicts the idea of universal collapse of Briah leading to a Big Bang creation of Yesod. In describing travel from one un…
07 Jun 2010, 17:40
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Hmph, then he shouldn't have had created all those bad guys as dark-skinned guys from south and east riding elephants. Nor should he have allowed "eagles" to save the day at the en…
07 Jun 2010, 17:28
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Or forward, in universal time, heh heh. Actually I think the Jungle Hut works as does its counterpart, The Lost House, a labyrinthine path leading to a vertical, time spanning stru…
07 Jun 2010, 17:21
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And let's not forget the Sweet Science as this exchange in the gym demonstrates Mickey: " Listen, kid, you! You lay off that pet shop dame. Women weaken legs." Rocky: "Yeah,…
05 Jun 2010, 19:05
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I tend to agree with Brunians on this. If the process of creation and destruction and creation of sequential universes can be imagined as taking an ascending spiral shape then the…
04 Jun 2010, 21:15
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That's not really the interpretatation I am presenting. Urth becomes Ushas not Earth. Urth is part of an entire universe, named Briah, which Big Bangs into existence, runs its cour…
04 Jun 2010, 17:25
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I like the idea of the presence of Baldanders/Talos rippling through time and space to affect the dreams of Mary Shelley on Lake Geneva (or vice versa). Still there are other Ear…
04 Jun 2010, 14:53
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