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But in most books this is kind of a wink at the reader; we're not supposed to ask why the madman's ravings should forshadow events in the book. In the Long Sun, however, one of th…
21 Jun 2000, 14:12
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There's also the scene in OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET where the scientist who captured Ransom is on "trial" and he gives this eloquent defense of humanity's manifest destiny to conque…
30 May 2000, 15:35
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Yeah, I don't know that Walter Hooper is doing Lewis any favors publishing some of this stuff, but it does give a pretty clear picture of his thoughts on the matter. What I think …
28 May 2000, 22:31
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This poem gives a pretty clear picture of Lewis's thoughts on the subject, although he didn't publish it in his lifetime, so he may have had reservations about the ideas (or about …
27 May 2000, 22:35
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It's a fine point, but he didn't think space travel and immortality are themselves sins, rather they are a bad idea because they would allow sin to grow beyond it's current bounds …
26 May 2000, 08:14
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This reminds me of some of C.S. Lewis's poems and _Out of the Silent Planet_ where he expresses horror at the thought of humanity colonizing the universe because it would bring the…
25 May 2000, 08:36
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Aha! I like this practice of letting Wolfean weirdness and ambiguity invade other books. Reading Mansfield Park as if it were written by Gene Wolfe; Borges would approve! Or wou…
21 May 2000, 21:57
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For those interested in Blake, there is a fantastic Blake archive on the web with lots of pictures of his engravings here: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/blake/ -Rostrum…
19 May 2000, 08:55
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I think if you give it another week or so it'll die down and we'll be back to Wolfe again. -Rostrum…
03 May 2000, 15:55
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But what about that poignant moment when they're writting messages to throw in the fireplace (I think it was to ask St. Nick for Christmas presents?) and Alice writes "Please bring…
01 May 2000, 13:14
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But then Dr. Death's statement makes no sense. No matter how many times we read the story, Tackman will never be a minute older than he was at the end of Death's sentence (heh, ac…
20 Apr 2000, 09:54
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I initially thought Wolfe had a cool idea here, pointing out the irony of Disney vigorously protecting the rights to characters that they've swiped from better sources and humanity…
17 Apr 2000, 10:50
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I don't think "contemporary scholarship" is that monolithic. A lot of those authorship debates seem to me to be based on too little evidence. Some of the arguments I've seen for t…
17 Apr 2000, 10:31
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If it weren't for Bill Clinton, I wouldn't have laughed at the line, "What is meant by 'is'?" And if I hadn't laughed at that line, I would have, as I did the first time I read "A…
16 Apr 2000, 23:07
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I finally got a copy of this book and will probably be posting about some of the stories over the next few days. Are the quotations in this story from an existing Sci-Fi Pulp, or …
16 Apr 2000, 23:04
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I don't think Silk had a choice in the matter. It seems like the kind of process that could be done without consent. They might even be able to do it through a sacred window. Su…
10 Apr 2000, 08:40
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And I don't think we'll see Silk's consciousness in a two-headed Pas body, I think we'll either see a fragment of Pas in Silk's body (the two minds making two heads) or Silk's cons…
06 Apr 2000, 10:32
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On Mon, 3 Apr 2000, Timothy Reilly quoted Alice: I agree. If you've got a conspiracy theory, let's hear it so we can argue about it. Somehow I doubt you've found an uncontrovers…
03 Apr 2000, 13:20
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Different tastes, I guess, but I've actually pointed that passage out before as an example of Wolfe's virtuoso writing. The way Auk describes such advanced technology in such simp…
03 Apr 2000, 13:14
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Every bit as orginial as the idea of an orphan of unknown parentage, raised by a secret society, who on coming of age is given an extraordinary sword, undertakes a quest, finds tha…
03 Apr 2000, 08:35
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I really enjoyed Wolfe's Soldier books (Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete). Fantasy set in ancient Greece, although Wolfe almost makes you believe that he sees it as an his…
23 Mar 2000, 18:28
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While I can understand thinking of it this way, it doesn't seem to be necessarily the only solution. If you can have the same soul at this place at 4:00 and at this place at 5:00 …
28 Jan 2000, 11:59
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Except they're operating on different levels. Ozzie calls himself Popeye (because he has an eye that pops), humming the "strong to the finish" song, calling his son "Swee' pea". …
27 Jan 2000, 10:23
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From all the mentions of the movie, Wolfe obviously had it in mind. I can see Free as the wizard, but I can't make the other characters fit. None of the charcters seem particular…
26 Jan 2000, 12:13
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What I meant was, can we choose one of the seven that names each of the four's "main" temptation? I think Stubb is pride, but you could make a case for anger. I'm not sure about…
26 Jan 2000, 11:09
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(Spoilers) I just read this book again, and once again enjoyed it. I think it's one of Wolfe's most fun books. I was wondering if the Quadrumvirate's temptations can be mapped t…
25 Jan 2000, 22:57
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I don't think Lewis thought colonization and immortality were themselves sinful. It would be more accurate to say he thought either one would be disasterous because of sin's corru…
19 Jan 2000, 10:26
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I don't know if this is still true, but for a while (I think, perhaps I'm remembering this wrong), Disney did not release some if its classic movies on video; they could only be se…
17 Dec 1999, 10:00
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Interesting. What makes you read it that way rather than as Borges himself narrating with his tongue firmly in his cheek? _The Imitation of Christ_ by James Joyce is still on my…
16 Dec 1999, 08:15
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It seems to me that the reader is always in control. I can read, or not read. I can read every other chapter. I can use a text to illustrate a discussion of Freud. I can read e…
10 Dec 1999, 09:08
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Well sure, but my point is that, just as the dying sun initially looks like it's dying of old age but is actually being prematurely sabotaged, this opposite end of a white fountain…
01 Dec 1999, 14:50
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Does Apheta or anyone else use the words "black hole" to describe the other end of the White Fountain or the thing eating away at the sun? Perhaps there is some other phenomenon, …
01 Dec 1999, 13:31
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On the other hand, it doesn't make much sense to assume the white hole is an eternal solution to entropy. All the stars are gonna die eventually (unless this is a gnab gib univers…
01 Dec 1999, 08:30
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This is cool, but doesn't really address my point, which I didn't make clear, so here it is again. It's not so much that there isn't enough quantity to Sev's career as Conciliator…
23 Nov 1999, 15:53
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You're touching on my main gripe about URTH. I wasn't convinced that the stuff Severian did in his "career" as the Concilator was enough for him to be remembered all the way to Se…
23 Nov 1999, 08:15
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Does Urth have rainbows? Did the Increate forget his promise to Noah? Or might this be a clue that Urth is not our world, but perhaps another (earlier?) iteration of the universe…
19 Nov 1999, 09:11
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But if Severian is lying, then he must be telling the truth, but if he's telling the truth, then he must be lying, but if he is lying, then he must be telling truth, but if he's te…
19 Nov 1999, 08:53
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I'm replying to a message from the Whorl list, but this seems like it belongs more under general Wolfe discussion. No Whorl spoilers. In the introduction to the Soldier books, Wo…
16 Nov 1999, 15:29
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I don't think "for the last time" here necessarily means "the last time ever in my whole life." In context it just means that he didn't know at the time that he was about to leave…
09 Nov 1999, 08:16
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This line of reasoning seems bizarre to me. Even if Severian does remember breastfeeding, would you really label this statement a contradiction, much less a lie? "I have memories…
08 Nov 1999, 14:02
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Different tastes. I like that sentence. Some of the others are overblown, but I think that one works just fine. As I said before, my main beef with the review is that it contain…
08 Nov 1999, 10:27
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I don't think "destroying wonder" quite captures the complaint of the tea-lady. Rather I think she's pointing out that sometimes scientific "explanations" don't really explain. …
07 Nov 1999, 17:42
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And don't forget the big hairy spoilers. If you haven't read the Long Sun books yet, don't read that review. -Rostrum…
05 Nov 1999, 13:03
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Actually, Natural Theology refers to that which can be learned about God from nature, as opposed to that which has been learned about God from revelation. The term "Natural Theolo…
05 Nov 1999, 10:03
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I agree with this. When I think of "Fairy Tale logic" I think of George MacDonald (e.g. "The Golden Key" or _Phantasties_) which has a very different feel from what Wolfe is doing…
03 Nov 1999, 09:25
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Me, I'm waiting for Wolfe and vizcacha to team up and produce the greatest work of interactive fiction ever. -Rostrum…
03 Nov 1999, 08:51
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[...] I agree. I think this is one of Wolfe's tricks with TBOTNS. On the surface it looks like swords and magic fantasy. As you read more carefully, you're led to believe that …
01 Nov 1999, 12:09
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I wonder if we could put together a list of the "easiest" or "most accessible" Wolfe? "Wolfe for Beginners"? I recently saw someone recommend "Fifth Head of Cerebrus" as a place …
28 Oct 1999, 09:44
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Well sure, I didn't mean to malign Latro and say that he personally was cool and distanced, it's his narrative style I was talking about. You could make a similar argument that it…
28 Oct 1999, 09:13
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Or read the MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. There is some really beautiful prose in that novel. I read it right after _Little, Big_, so I'm not just talking relatively beautiful prose, o…
28 Oct 1999, 09:10
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