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Yeah, sometimes what seems interesting in your own head comes out as a bit hackeneyed and boring when translated to words. For me, anyway. Well, I suppose Gene Wolfe is faced wi…
22 Dec 2010, 20:38
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I agree that Severian is not telling us a lot of embarassing stuff that he knows. I think Severian does meet her in tUotNS; sees her anyway, as the woman on the Path Of Air. As …
22 Dec 2010, 17:56
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I agree, especially in the light of paired opposites I'm viewing things in. We've got evil fish symbols and good ones. Maybe comparable to the Long Sun's simple Sign of Addition pa…
22 Dec 2010, 17:39
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That is interesting. I don't see how Fish and Frog are involved in Pia's story but I'd like to. I'm interested in James' take on that also. For me, there isn't too much hesitatio…
22 Dec 2010, 16:01
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Juturna, Abaia's daughter-bride, does claim to be able to swim between the stars. Since she is obviously bound by the laws of physics, given her size/water-bound nature I had alway…
22 Dec 2010, 15:40
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Forgot to clarify- Ourobouros, Echidna, Scylla and the Cumaean can be more associated with snakes than fish but I think the myth name Abaia was chosen for the primary demon on Urt…
22 Dec 2010, 13:53
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Considering the fish that ate Mamelta and perhaps the fish in Father Inire's mirrors, I was thinking that it may be a mistake to make the leap to the conclusion that an evocative …
22 Dec 2010, 12:44
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Speaking for everyone, would you please explain why any of my theories concerning the stories written by Gene Wolfe resemble unpolished straw men, platypuses and vending machines?…
22 Dec 2010, 12:13
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I think it is a mistake to take the text too literally about death when it comes to mythologically named characters. Again I find it helpful to frame these characters in mythologi…
22 Dec 2010, 04:57
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I think, when the main text fails us in some way, we are meant to delve to a different level of interpretation. I think mythological may serve here. I find it virtually undeniabl…
22 Dec 2010, 04:54
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Perhaps I am being too simplistic and naive but the answer that lies between the superficial text and deeper symbolism seems too easy a puzzle, especially given your theory, Marc.…
22 Dec 2010, 02:18
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Gerry you really seem like a decent chap trying to understand the viewpoint of others, including me, but I'm really not sure what more I can say to help you. Your statement above …
22 Dec 2010, 02:06
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Both time travel and cloning are invoked in BotNS but time travel is explored in far more detail and in connection to Severian. So I'd lean toward time travel for explanations but …
21 Dec 2010, 19:46
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Easily only if there was a real person sleeping. There is not. There is an author creating this scene with carefully chosen words. It is actually quite difficult for me to interpr…
21 Dec 2010, 19:07
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I'd have no problem if the discussion were along those lines. My objection is illustrated by Antonio's post who, when confronted with a contributor who observes "the tail seems spi…
21 Dec 2010, 18:22
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This sounds almost Dickensian. And in an interview, Gene Wolfe has said that as an only child he often spent his time people-watching, looking at faces for hints of unknown relativ…
21 Dec 2010, 17:57
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No, you miss the point of the analogy here. There is only a "good" description of the entirety of the elephant if there is a sighted man present. Each blind man "sees" with his han…
21 Dec 2010, 17:19
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I don't think we have very much which is "obvious" left to discuss in Wolfe's work. Haven't we moved on to the subtle and not so obvious? (like the antechamber being a spaceship) …
21 Dec 2010, 16:40
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Marc, I understand your perspective (I think). Mine differs only in being open to some alternate religious interpretations. The Pelerine admonishes Severian for viewing ongoing eve…
21 Dec 2010, 15:35
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James, as I understand your theory, Spring Wind is Typhon so Frog (and Severian) would be as sons of Typhon. I'm not sure how the Student and His Son legend relates to Typhon tho…
21 Dec 2010, 14:40
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Forgot to address this. Often, in legends and life, familial hate is the deepest kind. I used to find Typhon completely loathesome also. I think James' association of him to Alex…
21 Dec 2010, 13:35
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There has been some recent debate on whether this mausoleum is Severian's or another. I'm not sure but I don't think it is out of the question that part of the hidden structure b…
21 Dec 2010, 13:22
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Gwern, I both agree and disagree. In the history of this List there have been hundreds of theories proposed. I don't agree that only a few can be right. What I think we have is …
21 Dec 2010, 12:41
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James, when I rejoined this List last year under this name, your cogent advice to the "new guy" was that when people present their deeply well-thought out theories here, they are…
20 Dec 2010, 20:46
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James you are often a step or two ahead of me in reasoning, so it can be hard to keep up. I don't see this conclusion within Marc's theory. How is the Outsider restricted to being…
20 Dec 2010, 18:33
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Yes, I think Marc and James share far more in their theories than they differ. Not only does Marc share the Horn-Neighbor idea but they share in seeing the significance of trees an…
20 Dec 2010, 17:47
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I personally agree about Silk. But I'm not sure Wolfe does. Or at least I suspect Wolfe has created Silk as a symbolic expression of why outward "goodness" (and even charisma) are …
20 Dec 2010, 04:47
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The best explanation I've seen is the suggestion that socialists might generally be against imperialism and colonization. The funny thing is, the deeper message in 5HoC is that …
20 Dec 2010, 04:09
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Just had to add something which occurred to me and may sound crazy or may have occurred to others. The means by which Wolfe suggests the motherhood of Catherine and Mamelta are si…
19 Dec 2010, 17:24
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I agree that it is subversive but I get the opposite impression of Marc's theory. If anything, The Outsider as the One True God is manipulating Typhon and Kypris. Quite a briliant…
19 Dec 2010, 17:11
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I used to think Yesod was the next universe in succession after Briah. And that they would eventually get an Earth and a Jesus there. In this scenario, the "creations" as galaxies …
19 Dec 2010, 04:15
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Christian missionaries who have been put on display at a zoo and rendered somewhat ridiculous in their speech and behavior. I think this is an example of starting with a conclusi…
18 Dec 2010, 21:44
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This sounds so much like description of manvantaras by Malrubius I feel one has to perform contortions to avoid the connection. I could accept this better if I thought Wolfe w…
18 Dec 2010, 16:16
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Shazam! This is part of the anthropological lesson being taught to David and #5 by Mr. Million in the first few pages of the first Wolfe story (novella) I ever read. That's when I…
17 Dec 2010, 21:42
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Heh, funny. Same here. If we envision the sequential universes as an ascending spiral, or maybe stacked toroids, as Son ofa Witz suggested, it would be easy to envision a portal…
17 Dec 2010, 20:51
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True, though I think it goes deeper than that, even. Consider Malrubius' words: The parenthetical part is as Severian describes it. The beginning is at the same point as the end…
17 Dec 2010, 18:20
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In my view, Severian is the Theoanthropos, given his mixed parentage, that which makes him the perfect Conciliator between humanity and the sky gods. Severian tells us early on t…
17 Dec 2010, 14:02
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In my view, the world is gradually, with frequent backsliding, gradually improving and becoming more humane. The atrocities of WWII are now recognized for what they were, even by t…
17 Dec 2010, 13:47
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In a previous discussion of this topic I found it a pretty compelling conclusion that if Briah is Christian and Urth is Earth in the future then either: 1. God has broken his Cov…
17 Dec 2010, 09:03
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Oh, you guys. Gerry and I have been having a lot of fun with this. But, once it expressly becomes an annoyance to others, well...that needs to be it. All fun things must come to …
16 Dec 2010, 20:24
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I don't know you personally, Gerry. Any criticism I have of you is based purely on your writing. By your definition, wouldn't calling someone else's expression of heartfelt feeli…
16 Dec 2010, 19:52
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None taken from this former one, anyway. The Old Testament is a cesspool of genocide all in the name of the Chosen People. Joshua was as merciless and bloodthirsty as any conqueror…
16 Dec 2010, 19:42
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It is Merryn. It is she who answers the door to the Witches Keep and guides Severian to the Cumaean sitting at her artificial landscape. There is the suggestion that maybe there ar…
16 Dec 2010, 18:40
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I don't interpret the teratoid symbol as Inire's maker mark. I only mentioned that possibility in response to somebody who was asserting their only possible meaning was as a factor…
16 Dec 2010, 18:32
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My view exactly. Although I must admit, Wolfe's interview quotes, his choice of archaic verbiage, archaic saint names and the word Urth (past) all conspire to push my interpretatio…
16 Dec 2010, 18:20
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An excellent expansion and elaboration of my simplistic analysis. Please consider mine thusly expanded and elaborated upon!…
16 Dec 2010, 18:15
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This is simplistic and biased. You clearly see yourself in the role of B. Only A is seen as capable of ego-related bias, never B. You just won't recognize that what seems "strong a…
16 Dec 2010, 18:08
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It could be. I can see the validity of this possible view. For me, the problem becomes that when Silk was, in that split-second, enlightened by The Outsider, we now have to accept …
16 Dec 2010, 17:46
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So if the Outsider is our God, the creator of all universes, then Wolfe is saying that worshippers of Allah and Dionysus are all worshipping the same God that Catholics worship. Ju…
16 Dec 2010, 17:23
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Like David, I'm not feeling fully keyed in to in depth discussions on the Trinity. But, SilkHorn, continuing his lesson to HOund, does remark on a confusing scenario in which The O…
16 Dec 2010, 15:27
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