-
I think Severian's many loves are not an aside but are instead a very purposeful and central part of the books. Each of these women helps Severian to discover an important part of…
07 Apr 2007, 20:39
-
I think this is intended to show us how cheap Vodalus' apparent romantic nobility is -- it shows him as a common and mean-spirited grifter at heart. This is an excellent poi…
19 Sep 2006, 14:41
-
A good point but, as the cooling sun teaches, we cannot discount action by intelligent beings as the cause of apparently natural phenomena. Given mankind's other advanced technolo…
31 Jul 2006, 14:44
-
At first, yes, with Thecla -- but later Domnina meets alone with Inire in his presence chamber, where he shows her the "fish." Macronaut…
28 Jul 2006, 14:34
-
Or the Elder Sign? Someone <has> to compile all the Lovecraftian elements in TBOTNS (or has it been done already?). Macronaut…
27 Jul 2006, 20:11
-
Actually an excellent point. I don't know how it affects my theory: on the one hand, Hangul is a lot simpler visually than Chinese, and can't be said to look "monstrous" the way C…
27 Jul 2006, 20:09
-
I had a different interpretation -- that the teratoid symbol, which as I recall appears on the mirror cabinet of the presence chamber, was a chinese character. Some of the more co…
27 Jul 2006, 15:51
-
No, but I meant only that the DVD version (full or concise) is much, much cheaper than trying to get the OED in print. Macronaut…
13 Jun 2006, 14:32
-
You might also consider the DVD version of the OED. Much easier to search, and it's far cheaper. Macronaut…
12 Jun 2006, 14:27
-
Oops -- sorry for missing the sperm donor stuff. Macronaut…
30 May 2006, 14:33
-
I remember when Robert Borski first proposed that the salamander was Mother Pyrexia. I found it unconvincing then and still do. The alcalde of Saltus described Mother Pyrexia as …
29 May 2006, 19:26
-
b sharp wrote: <When Severian is a boy he gets a tour of the witches tower. It is <archaic <and in disrepair. He sees gnostic designs, a lack of furniture, notes <a colder te…
29 May 2006, 18:19
-
Not trying to be a doubting Thomas, just curious whether Typhon also had made a chess metaphor -- that would increase its importance as a theme. I know little about chess, but isn…
25 May 2006, 18:56
-
I think it was Vodalus, not Typhon, who made the chess reference, and identified himself as playing the black side. I may be wrong -- if so, can b or someone else point me to the …
25 May 2006, 14:21
-
I have two ideas about this (if I may propose an answer to my own question). My preferred theory is that no harm is done to them -- they are welcomed into Heirodule society and ra…
24 May 2006, 14:47
-
I see two What makes us think Father Inire and the Cumean have the ability to shapeshift? It's not clear to me that Father Inire and the Cumean <cannot> travel time, or simply ch…
22 May 2006, 17:06
-
I agree with that, and I don't think you even need to resort to stellar/metaphysical coupling, basic physical biology will do. As a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, Abaia make me think of b…
19 May 2006, 16:02
-
I think that's an excellent and intruiging observation -- it certainly applies to Sev, maybe to the green man, and maybe to others like Tzadkiel or the people of Yesod. You might …
18 May 2006, 22:35
-
I agree -- and it's not just that they behave monstrously, but that this monstrous behavior is reflected in (and motivates) physical alteration into something monstrous we no longe…
18 May 2006, 17:24
-
I agree. And I would argue that, as a candidate for epitome of Earth, Baldanders represented the Earth-that-was-punished with a black hole: mankind as amoral exploiter of nature a…
17 May 2006, 14:56
-
There's also a reference in UOTNS to the Beast Tower having originally been a "Zoetic Transport." Macronaut Duncan Truter <dtruter at gmail.com> wrote: there's a part where he co…
06 May 2006, 18:18
-
Hethor wouldn't need special powers to move backward in time if he had been a crewman on Tzadkiel's ship, a la Gunnie/Burgundofara. Speaking of which, where is the little gray man…
05 May 2006, 17:09
-
I remember that the towers of the citadel are revealed to be ships waiting to leave Urth in the last days of Typhon. But I don't recall anything suggesting that the citadel as a w…
05 May 2006, 15:01
-
Mitchell wrote: one of the final I think it fits in very well with the idea of human interstellar empire, as represented by Typhon, as a plague upon the face of the Earth, ravag…
24 Sep 1999, 13:41
Urth Net