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Reading that I cannot help thinking of the Doonesbury cartoon strip's Walden College - "Nothing but A grades". Matthew…
28 Jul 2003, 10:19
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Eh? Was the MS complete before initial publictaion? If so what caused the delays in first the UK edition? A friend recommended me TBotNS before the third volume was published. W…
14 Jul 2003, 07:19
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I wouldn't disagree with you were it not for Severian's persistant claim to a perfect memory. Is that claim significant or just a throw-away line. Throw-away lines in Wolfe? I…
14 Jul 2003, 07:09
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Assumes you believe LU. :-) Matthew…
11 Jul 2003, 07:07
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If it's transcendental who knows. But in the mundane world Nessus drowned. The library's under water and full of soggy vellum, paper, papyrus etc. Matthew…
11 Jul 2003, 07:03
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Random thought: What is the process for creating a new Severian when the old one carellesly dies? Occasionally we see a corpse, but more often not. If the heirodules are tampe…
11 Jul 2003, 06:54
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What need of branches when L-Space bends sufficiently to put Ultan's stacks both in the Citadel and the House Absolute. :-) Matthew…
10 Jul 2003, 15:58
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Plausible. But no clue that the Commonwealth _is_ a society without mechanical printing. Ultan and Cyby are Curators not Scrivenors. Matthew…
10 Jul 2003, 15:41
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There's a thousand year history of pageant, masque and re-enactment buy guilds, oratorical and chivalrous orders of scriptural events both in religious and secular circumstances.…
10 Jul 2003, 10:01
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They are not alone. The librarians have analagous ceremonies to those described for the torturers, it is mentioned in Sev's conversation with Ultan that they are held in the cate…
10 Jul 2003, 09:54
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Severian states that he sent one copy of the manuscript to the library at the citadel and will cast the second - the copy we are reading - into the void. Wouldn't a conscious ef…
10 Jul 2003, 09:22
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I can't recall any clue that suggests Sev's experience with autarchical inheritance was different from his predecessors - and he has his predecessors memories for guidance and co…
10 Jul 2003, 09:17
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Dr Talos says there are 12 gates and names at least some of them, he and Baldanders having traversed one entering the city on the way south, two more going and retuning from the …
20 Jun 2003, 08:03
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"earliest name _we_ have for it" Which we get on Severian's misplaced return in time. "Old" can simply mean it's been there a long time. By then it's redundant, the ships have b…
20 Jun 2003, 07:53
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I can think of two mundane reasons for the space inside the wall. First to enclose farming land or other resources. That actually doesn't stand up very well because a technology…
20 Jun 2003, 07:33
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The ancient historians had a pretty clear idea of what were Persians and what were other nations conquered by the Persian Empire. Just as they made the distinction between Roman…
18 Jun 2003, 07:29
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On 06/06/2003 23:43:27 David Kirby wrote: [Re beheading article] Now I'm even less impressed: Contributor: "They help him clean his sword" I couldn't help chuckling at that! …
09 Jun 2003, 08:40
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,971528,00.html reprinted from http://www.arabnews.com/ I don't know the Washiton post so I'm not sure of the purpose of the "Reliable So…
09 Jun 2003, 08:30
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I was happy with "entity". I'd have quibled with the ealier used "inteligence". I can't look right now (me, office: books, home) but I have a feeling that I thought the inhabitan…
07 May 2003, 11:25
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I like entity much beter than inteligence. Oh but a small point: the mine's guardians react in a manner to suggest fear based on prior experience; they have some concept of what i…
06 May 2003, 09:02
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Substitute observable, or perhaps experiential, for "real". Matthew…
25 Apr 2003, 08:47
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When a character in a Ruth Rendell thriller walks a London street near my home I can too. When Graves' Claudius refers to the Sybiline prophesies I can recall the cave complex of …
24 Apr 2003, 07:56
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Is there a practical difference between a fictive universe which - apart from the fictional narrative - maps exactly against the real and one that does not? Matthew…
23 Apr 2003, 14:17
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Hethor lost his paracoita, potentially one cause of his mental disorder. It seemed to me that Agia was a substitute, possibly an inferior one as far as he was concerned. Matthew…
22 Apr 2003, 07:51
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My own opinion is that Banks would be better read in publication order, certainly the Culture books. For example "Look to Windward" stands well enough alone but does better for ha…
22 Apr 2003, 07:40
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No. But you'd be safer characterizing it as the painful burden of scholarly research... Matthew…
22 Apr 2003, 07:29
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No. It's immoral. Although not necessarily illegal. Matthew…
22 Apr 2003, 06:52
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What is the purpose of the gardens and what are they, in physical terms? We are told that they were created by Father Inire which might lead us to think of some magical/technoligi…
17 Apr 2003, 07:41
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"Neverness" and "The Requiem for Homo Sapiens" trilogy both delighted me. One might say Lupine affinities. However I've just read the first and started the second of his more rece…
10 Mar 2003, 10:49
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I'd partially agree. The sequel "The Scar" is slightly thiner. :-) Matthew…
28 Feb 2003, 18:09
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I have just recently been enthralled by Erikson. So loved the four books of the Malazan Fallen that I'm not in any state to be (Lit-) critical about them yet. Long loved Mary Gen…
28 Feb 2003, 18:06
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As an aside the BBC are broadcasting an adaptation of the series in it's Saturday Afternoon Play slot 14:30 - 17:00 GMT. I heard much of it and thought it rather good. The first …
07 Jan 2003, 09:52
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Marc ascribed to Typhon words that are not in the text. The use of quotation marks is conventionally to indicate a direct citation. Unless you propose that we abandon the convent…
06 Jan 2003, 17:20
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Which is unfortunate, the more so for those who might read posts without the text at hand. But that is unforgivable. To do so is duplicitous. Matthew…
06 Jan 2003, 15:19
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Wire it that way and you'll blow the breakers. Here in Eurp brown is conventionally live. Matthew…
06 Jan 2003, 11:37
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But Urth is not Ushas. Matthew…
27 Dec 2002, 10:59
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If one wanted to tease Marc what, oh reverend list memebers, would be the most effective means.... Matthew…
24 Dec 2002, 10:09
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Just for once: "What He Said". Matthew…
17 Dec 2002, 16:29
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The problem with this is that the Typhon we see in tBotNS and mor particularly tUotNS wouldn't have thought this way. He'd not have considered that his plans would fail in such a…
12 Dec 2002, 16:33
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Hmm. Caveat that one doesn't know how Wolfe understands the terms nor if he intended the distinction to be at all significant, or if the American cultural context makes a differen…
03 Dec 2002, 17:39
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Ummmm...... And the quotes that establish this are? Somewhere amongst the papers on my desks are the notes I took on last reading regarding time and chronology. I'll try and …
03 Dec 2002, 09:56
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Thank you for reminding me about that. Some of those questions and answers might stomp on a few of the currently debated theories. Matthew…
02 Dec 2002, 17:48
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Nope, the mail clients I use also appreciate complete URL's Matthew…
26 Nov 2002, 11:34
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No need for devices, or not on Blue/Green. The sails of The Ship transport things by chance and the ship travels time. Although I've no interest in pressing the matter as inhumi …
26 Nov 2002, 11:03
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Something.> I dislike the inhumi on earth theory. Dislike it a great deal. However there is no necesity for inhumi to travel to earth by their own means. Think apports, ships …
25 Nov 2002, 18:02
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Indeed they do. However I was wondering if while telling the story Quetzal could be seeing himself as the snake in the garden. Matthew…
20 Nov 2002, 08:28
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And what's with Quetzal swaying? Cobra-like.... Matthew…
19 Nov 2002, 18:56
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Ummm... When on first reads SotT I don't think the reader can at that point have enough clues to endow either Severian or the Claw with such power. Sev himself thinks that perhap…
18 Nov 2002, 11:34
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It's certainly one with a certain degree of plausibility. However remember that Paiton hated Typhon for what had been done to him. The stronger Piaton's influence the less I woul…
11 Nov 2002, 13:30
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I can't see that the religious environment set up to support Pas and his familly as gods of the Whorl could have worked in any fashion unless Pas did indeed provide the founding sc…
08 Nov 2002, 08:40
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