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The coin by which Vodalus first swayed Seveverian had the face of Appian on it and it was later revealed to be false currency. Symbolism? I had always assumed the falseness of th…
22 Apr 2013, 11:51
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Correction appreciated. Actually Jonas might be a more appropriate messenger of the new which (I think) suggests the exultants have at least some extra- terrestrial origin. (is "ex…
19 Apr 2013, 19:47
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In discussing his extinguishing of some exultant families, Master Gurloes suggests that they are the newest of families on Urth. So I don't think so. There may be certain conclus…
19 Apr 2013, 12:45
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Well, we could debate whether the connection is as broad as "ungulate", in the middle like Gerry's "large, domesticated grass eaters" or a narrow as "bovine". I find that mildly i…
15 Apr 2013, 14:53
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It was a number of years ago. But IIRC, the debate started when someone else speculated that the name of a certain character, (maybe Patera Bull or even Bison?) was suggestive of…
14 Apr 2013, 17:29
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Thanks, Dan'l. I liked that post a lot. Also a good post. We must hope that every thoughtful, analytical poster here has a sort of literary "concience" to tell him/her when he has…
14 Apr 2013, 04:41
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This is along my own personal guess about what is going on beneath the surface of BotNS. Why is the wizened, monkey-like vizier titled "Father"? I suspect he fathered a few of the …
14 Apr 2013, 04:14
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Yeah, I can't remember if it book 5 or 6 of the Dune series but at some point the Duncan Idaho clone remembers his "birth mother" she being essentially a monstrous tube-fed uterus…
12 Apr 2013, 18:52
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I was aware that Wolfe had borrowed from the Byzantine empire to create The Commonwealth and its government but I didn't know Thecla and her fellow autarchial concubines had been…
12 Apr 2013, 12:30
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Your mind works in amazing ways to see these connections. I am tempted to think ascribing so much meaning to street names might be stretching credibility of understanding Wolfe's i…
12 Apr 2013, 12:01
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I truly think so. Furthermore, given the conflation of Horn's children with the inhumi in Short Sun, I think Wolfe takes the human principle of anti-parisitism and demonstrates th…
11 Apr 2013, 21:09
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? Well...then it sounds like we are in agreement. The worlds of 5HoC are like Urth but without a Severian, or B, F and O or Tzadkiel or Yesod. Degenerating with no hope of reprieve…
11 Apr 2013, 21:03
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Sorry I didn't fully explain what I meant about a literary interpretation. I meant to add that I think Wolfe felt he covered what it was like to be a male clone in 5HoC so BotNS wa…
11 Apr 2013, 20:53
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I feel your pain, Gerry (I suspect Marc does also on the other side of the fence). Are you familiar with the movie Annie Hall, where Woody Allen is able to pull Marshall McLuhan fr…
11 Apr 2013, 20:37
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I'll have to go with the prosaic, allegorical interpretation on that one. Just the stereotypical idea that women spend their lives living and understanding being part of a depend…
11 Apr 2013, 20:19
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Ack! Not the dreaded Dollo's Law. I think I had that out with Gerry a few years ago. Anyway, that was Aunt Jeanine's point. If a shapeshifter could and did evolve mimicry so perf…
11 Apr 2013, 20:12
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It has been discussed through the years at certain points. The text itself hints at it by noting an ancient language (english of course) in which the word "present", represented b…
11 Apr 2013, 18:52
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Well, removing the Y chromosome and doubling the X doesn't seem too difficult. I think Aunt Jeannine was meant to represent a female clone of Maitre/Number 4 (or was there some out…
11 Apr 2013, 17:02
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Heh, well, I did refer to it as "pop anthropology". Still I found the section on Harris' own work with the economics of cows in India and his coverage of Rappaport's work with the …
11 Apr 2013, 16:51
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Yes, I think this crystalizes Wolfe's intent for 5HoC, with the provision that part anthropomorphizing their origin is truly forgetting their non-human origin. Though, as Aunt Jean…
11 Apr 2013, 12:54
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No more than an arch-angelic being like Tzadkiel previously having the form of a hirsute dwarf and a furry, limbless blob of flesh. Or Inhumi morphing from parasitic vines to amphi…
11 Apr 2013, 12:42
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Thanks for that post and perspective, Ross. My own introduction to paganism came from a 70's pop anthropology book by Marvin Harris called Pigs, Cows, Wars and Witches. It is pret…
11 Apr 2013, 11:54
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Hey, I take free license to simplify my posts for clarity, avoiding clutter and ephemera but in my OP I did mention methanogens. I demand credit for that ;- ). Anyway, my impressi…
11 Apr 2013, 11:38
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Hmmm, "very old". I've been on the list since the early 2000's I think, so what are you trying to say, Antonio? (j/k) And in seriousness, the idea came to me a while back in readi…
11 Apr 2013, 11:25
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But Gerry has suggested that Gene Wolfe and Mark Twain should be read and understood in the same manner.(Twain did dabble a bit in SF). So, should they? I think that is the more e…
10 Apr 2013, 19:29
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I have always thought that Phaedria's widow's peak was the suggestion of a heart shaped face. (though I tend to subscribe to Borski's notion that the dark hair and violet eyes of …
10 Apr 2013, 18:41
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Thanks Ross. I found the Texan view of vegetarianism to be interesting and relevant. With regard to neo-pagans, I didn't mean to simplify or imply I had any sort of authority or f…
10 Apr 2013, 18:02
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This is such a polite and well-worded question, I certainly want to take a shot at answering. First, Marc's explanation about Wolfe being a cryptic writer is a good one. We have …
10 Apr 2013, 16:31
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Sure, and that origin for Shadow Children has been suggested. But we are trying to work within Marc's plant-origin theme, at least I am. To its credit, this theme does appear to be…
10 Apr 2013, 15:37
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No, but in 5HoC, the Maitre-cloned slave with four arms has a triangular face. Also Number Five bears a strong resemblance to Severian and Phaedria bears a resemblance to Thecla/Th…
10 Apr 2013, 14:52
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I agree that the plant-animal connection of the Eucharist is an important Wolfean theme which ties religious symbolism to naturalistic themes. Perhaps because I am not catholic, I…
10 Apr 2013, 14:01
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I've found that line to be among the most haunting in SF since I first read it as a teen, in the novella. However I take the opposite interpretation. I find the pronoun "us" to me…
10 Apr 2013, 13:42
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Good catch, Marc. It fits in with your "relaxation model" The abos being a closer approximation to earth humans than shadow children, so what came before shadow children? As the O…
10 Apr 2013, 13:28
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On the subject of identity, I could trot out my theory regarding clones in this series. I have an intuitive sense that clones are more important in BotNS than they superficially ap…
08 Apr 2013, 18:59
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"Relaxation". I like this engineering perspective on the problem.…
08 Apr 2013, 18:26
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Since Alexander's empire reached almost to India, I think the religions of the region might have had some impact on Christianity. Many think the Brahman-Vishnu-Shiva trinity of Hin…
26 Dec 2012, 14:45
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I think the connection Steve Roh sees is real and Jeff's idea explains it. Wolfe does conflate earthly mythology in his fiction but this is a reflection of the real world conflatio…
24 Dec 2012, 14:38
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Thanks for the detailed response Marc. I always appreciate your eye for detail. The reason I think the narrator essentially turns into a pig is that he responds to the call for "B…
10 Dec 2012, 19:35
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I don't know if this has been noted before but at the end of OBW, the narrator is telling several stories at once in typical confusing fashion, shuttling between them with each new…
10 Dec 2012, 04:11
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Ditto. Going back to Wolfe's earliest work, is there any theme more pervasive and significant than the mystery of personal identity? I think Andrew has uncovered a previously unde…
03 Dec 2012, 14:19
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A quick addendum to the last post: It may be that Wolfe's philosophy that attachment to the person of the Monarch is simultaneously the highest and lowest basis for governance is…
30 Nov 2012, 18:10
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Being toward the end of the second book of the originally intended four, this puts the black hole explanation roughly at the mid-point. A first-time reader might conclude this is t…
30 Nov 2012, 18:03
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Good question. I'll try to explain. It is a common hard SF trope to have primitive aliens believing in some magical principle to understand some large, problematic issue in their …
30 Nov 2012, 13:33
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Thanks, Andrew. I think the recognition of both meanings is helpful. I think Urth and its dying red sun qualify as hard SF in Antonio's/Asimov's sense of being driven by a scient…
29 Nov 2012, 16:35
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I agree with this. I get the sense that the Neighbors, though previously highly susceptible to the evil of Inhumi are now immune to them. Perhaps this is related to the fact that t…
29 Nov 2012, 16:25
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So far, so good.... Grrrrrr! I am tempted to argue that a frozen Inhumi body surely lacks the mass and density to create the visible light display we can see from a large meteor,…
28 Nov 2012, 16:23
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Just for the sake of discussion, I'll disagree. Perhaps Wolfe isn't diamond-hard but I'd give him ruby- or sapphire- on the MOhs scale. I think he makes a sincere attempt in most …
28 Nov 2012, 15:51
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I do like this theme for the secret of the Inhumi. I agree with Marc that the association of parasitic inhumi and multi-limbed Neighbors with parasitic lianas and trees is more tha…
28 Nov 2012, 14:44
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My own thinking is in line with nates, but I have to admit that Jerry's thinking is congruent with Wolfe's quote in the Gevers interview. Perhaps we are just supposed to accept it …
28 Nov 2012, 13:36
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Eloquently stated, as always Daniel. Trying to reinterpret your words in my own coarse fashion, I wonder if we can stretch the analogy to suggest that as metal being blacksmithed, …
27 Nov 2012, 15:58
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