-
I think you are missing something important. The above about the God of Wine and Thyone takes place in a theological lesson SilkHorn is giving to Hound. Later, after Hound has had…
16 Dec 2010, 14:39
-
At the risk of becoming a repetitive bore (whoops, too late!), this is a classic gnostic Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy. Matachin is male, rigid, synthetic, solid, highly regimente…
16 Dec 2010, 14:28
-
Ryan does say: "If you have more to add, by all means share." I'd be interested in more detail or text quotes for your contributions, Jeff. The jurupari hex sign is wreathed in le…
16 Dec 2010, 12:44
-
Ryan does say: "If you have more to add, by all means share." I'd be interested in more detail or text quotes for your contributions, Jeff. The jurupari hex sign is wreathed in l…
16 Dec 2010, 12:44
-
In reading Long Sun, I also got the impression that The Outsider was to be considered the same as our God, creator of all universes. Even if this Briah universe never had a Jesus …
16 Dec 2010, 05:13
-
I don't know enough to debate yea or nay on this. But RttW seems to explicitly define The Outsider as The God of Wine, son of Thyone. i.e. a version of Dionysus. I think there are…
15 Dec 2010, 20:09
-
Okay, but do they take weeks or months of walking to traverse? A bit unwieldy. We also see a portal in Tzadkiel's ship. Severian notes that it resembles those of Father Inire but…
15 Dec 2010, 19:58
-
Sorry, I'm not knowledgable enough to discuss the Logos stuff. Maybe I can later. But in saying we must deny The Outsider as a real deity it would seem you are saying that we mus…
15 Dec 2010, 19:52
-
Gerry I don't find your posts the best example of alpha dog snarling around here in the past 6 years but if the shoe fits.. You have strongly asserted that all ideas must be sub…
15 Dec 2010, 19:41
-
Jerry recently cited Wolfe interviews which explicity say it. Special? Not special? Jerry is wrong? The "similar history" is explained by the same principle as the similar (but n…
15 Dec 2010, 19:14
-
Since this entire story is from Severian's point of view, we can only discern meaning based on what he understands and what we think he doesn't understand but we do. He wrote BotNS…
15 Dec 2010, 19:02
-
I like this comparison. House Absolute is surely mostly a palace, rather than a castle or government building. Still we must remember that what we plebians consider useless, the a…
15 Dec 2010, 18:46
-
Heh, good question! You made me think about it. I have to be cautious to not inject my own views into things, but rather focus on what I think are Gene Wolfe's (my own socio-anthro…
15 Dec 2010, 15:48
-
Discussion of Sidero sparked my thoughts regarding Inire and Tzadkiel, Commonwealth and The Ship as reversed mirror images of each other. On the issue of freedom: The Commonwealth…
15 Dec 2010, 12:37
-
What I mean is that after the massive plot contortions and planetary upheavals, at the end of the story on Ushas we are not left with much of anything that suggests a Christian out…
15 Dec 2010, 12:14
-
I lean in this interpretive direction also. But The Green Man is a significant alternate name for the pagan horned god, Great God Pan, etc. Is Wolfe suggesting this is the ultimate…
15 Dec 2010, 02:07
-
Well, I have some thoughts but they are difficult to put into words. I have been trying with my Father Inire theory. For me, this is a gnostic, pre-Christian universe (some prefe…
14 Dec 2010, 20:15
-
I'm okay with that. But here's the thing..the only thing we see coming out of those particular mirrors is the silver fish-thing in the Domnina story (though I think Inire says th…
14 Dec 2010, 18:03
-
Ah! Yes, I've seen this interpretation of the teratoid sign before. Might be something to it. My gut feeling is that it is based on an error though. A "teratogen" is an agent which…
14 Dec 2010, 15:15
-
Doesn't sound very Wolfean to me. It would be like Severian stops being Thecla (although that does seem to happen in UotNS for auctorial/authorial purposes (Antonio has taught me …
14 Dec 2010, 13:08
-
We had descended perhaps a hundred steps when we reached a door painted with a crimson *teratoid* But if you > > prefer, here's another allusion to starflight. [See, I ca…
14 Dec 2010, 06:19
-
Yes, that is what I am suggesting (or that Severian is lying to us about not knowing) Well, I do. But that's not much help to others, I know. Not sure we want to go with the tra…
14 Dec 2010, 00:29
-
It does to me. You could guess that he is up in Ascia or something. But Ascia is not shown to us, thus it exists outside the Labyrinth. Not an option. In my view Father Inire can b…
13 Dec 2010, 21:22
-
Thank you Craig. I think that was a very illustrative post. The reason you see a similarity in tone to the conversations on this Board to your lessons to your freshmen is that some…
13 Dec 2010, 20:52
-
Sorry, bollixed the key question in my last post with an uncorrected typo. Please delete the bracketed above. I consider this an essential question that demands an answer. If Fat…
13 Dec 2010, 19:58
-
Noooo way! Not obvious to me, anyway, though I can hardly claim to be the most steeped authority on Christian symbolism. James I think you are just going to have to face facts. I…
13 Dec 2010, 19:07
-
Son o' Witz- I think you meant, "Just smokin' the stuff" :) Hah! :- P! Antechamber aside, I can't help but feel the discussion of Jonas's ship is missing a major thematic co…
13 Dec 2010, 18:56
-
LMAO! I know, I know!…
13 Dec 2010, 18:00
-
I always mirror my audiences in tone. Speaking in their language is the best, sometimes only way, to achieve communication. And all I am saying is that there is a good chance Gene…
13 Dec 2010, 17:57
-
Careful in your assessment of what I do and do not know. Your co-workers know what the back of your head looks like better than you do ;- ). Mirrors can take various forms. Gerr…
13 Dec 2010, 17:21
-
Just thinking about Gene Wolfe's advocation for the dead/admiration for old masters, I could imagine him bored in his engineering office in an historic old Chicago building and de…
13 Dec 2010, 15:40
-
wow, that is good. Not sure if I encountered that Alice analogy in my perusal of the Archives before joining. Nick Chopper did become tin by losing body parts and replacing them wi…
13 Dec 2010, 15:17
-
Heh. This resonates with me also. In writing BotNS I think Gene Wolfe was still working either as an engineer or as an engineering journal editor. This scene could partially be hi…
13 Dec 2010, 05:19
-
For me, the Long Sun character of Mint seems loosely patterned on Joan of Arc. If the main text is weak or unclear on her motivations, perhaps a study of the Maid of Orleans could…
13 Dec 2010, 04:10
-
Now that's a snotty comment, heh! But an honest opinion I'm sure. Please consider that I am not writing with you only as an audience. I don't know if you have any background in pu…
13 Dec 2010, 04:01
-
Correct. This should have been clear from the portion of the discussion where I posited that Wolfe himself suggests there are seven levels of interpretation to his work. Perhaps we…
13 Dec 2010, 03:40
-
Gerry you have painted youself into an atheist corner here. God is defined, in deepest essence, as supernatural. Not of this physical universe. You might as well admit the point bl…
12 Dec 2010, 21:49
-
Gene Wolfe spent the decade before writing BotNS watching silly US TV shows with his kids as my parents did with me. The impact of 60's TV shows cannot be underestimated. I've pre…
12 Dec 2010, 21:36
-
I am not nearly as familiar with Long Sun as BotNS but I'll give it a shot. In my opinion, Kypris' advice to Orchid is actually advice to herself. Her beloved Pas has been deleted…
12 Dec 2010, 21:24
-
Thank you for that honest and incisive answer :- ). I think tying God to being compatible with the physical nature of the universe does suggest you are an unredeemable materialist.…
11 Dec 2010, 22:48
-
This was an important enough response that I thought it needed its own entry. I will respond by saying you are wrong. Severian CAN be both a virgin and non-virgin. The reason is be…
11 Dec 2010, 22:27
-
Good catch! My first thought is, "what does that say about Dux Caesidius?" I remain eternally skeptical of every established thing in the Commonwealth. If the Pelerines truly seek…
11 Dec 2010, 21:53
-
A personal question for Gerry, if I may: Do you believe in God?…
11 Dec 2010, 21:28
-
I'm hoping I can be indulged in one last coda. In the discussion of sexual weirdnesses I had forgotten an anecdote from Roy C. Lackey that made me laugh. In analyzing the interlud…
11 Dec 2010, 19:14
-
Very insightful! It is such an apt analysis you needn't even qualify it with "in part". The Meyers-Briggs assessment that has been discussed would describe you as a Sensory (S) t…
11 Dec 2010, 18:40
-
Thanks for the interest in my theory and the responses to it. They are appreciated and helpful. I'm sure the admonitions are meant as a reminder to me and other readers here to not…
11 Dec 2010, 13:56
-
I'll wrap up discussion of my Father Inire theory (which goes beyond just that character of course) by re-mentioning that its purpose for me is as a way of broadly reversing the to…
11 Dec 2010, 13:19
-
In the past I've discussed my Father Inire theory in terms of all the possibilities of versions of him and his relevance to Severian's family tree so I'll skip over that for now I'…
11 Dec 2010, 05:10
-
For the record this is definitely NOT my line of thinking. My theory works best (as it was largely inspired by) the words of Gene Wolfe in his James Jordan interview. For me, this …
11 Dec 2010, 04:05
-
Yes, I admit that. On the other hand it's possible you know too much of them and as Andrew and Dan'l suggest, requiring me to distinguish them in every mention would wear out my s…
10 Dec 2010, 22:23
Urth Net