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[snip] and then claiming that a shape-shifting, mask-wearing, alien could be anyone, even including a shadow child from St. Anne, you wind up with a farrago of chaos --not a novel…
26 May 2006, 20:04
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It was nearly two years after the near-drowning when the Uncle heard the voices from the river, after Severian became autarch, and that was the only time he heard them. "Yes, I saw…
26 May 2006, 08:08
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Mantis, afaik, was the first to suggest that old man to be Dorcas' husband. Her husband was familiar with manatees and delivered the avern lecture. The basic idea is: The Boatman (…
25 May 2006, 20:50
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Amen. Many a perfectly good theory has been ruined that way. <g> -Roy…
25 May 2006, 19:39
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I could object that Inire said in the letter that he would not reach the Citadel for two more days, but you could counter by asking how the letter reached the Citadel in the first…
25 May 2006, 19:39
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I thought 'most everyone knew that. The last page of chapter II. __________________________________ I said, "I saw Malrubius." An old man, a boatman from his tar-stained clothe…
25 May 2006, 08:40
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Hrmmph. I ain't buyin' all of it, and some of it has been said before, but it's easily your most cogent post to date. Well done! What about Becan on the Rudesind/Fechin angle? And…
25 May 2006, 06:03
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The main problem with this theory (as with the Borski version you allude to) is one of logistics. I know of no river conduit anywhere near the Piteous Gate. It required an afternoo…
24 May 2006, 18:15
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It's in the Appendix to CITADEL. -Roy…
24 May 2006, 06:40
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And in a follow-up: But I don't see the point of this, but this is the text in question: "The misty light of the moon, the younger sister's kiss upon the face of her dying elder…
24 May 2006, 06:36
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Cacogen is a derogatory general term used on Urth to indicate all non-human aliens. Not all cacogens belong to the same species. Not all "holy slaves" need belong to the same speci…
23 May 2006, 17:34
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Regardless of how they personally cope with their temporal backwardness when interacting with normal people, the fact remains, as I pointed out about a week ago in the "Baldanders"…
23 May 2006, 08:34
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I have been known to inveigh against buffet-style theorizing myself, but it is usually a waste of time. People tend to see what they want to see. Meanwhile, carry on! Who was that…
23 May 2006, 06:34
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This is one of those areas where Wolfe strains my credulity a tad thin. I mean, Abaia & co. are reputed to be literally as big as mountains. Even Jonas affirmed that improbable siz…
19 May 2006, 06:43
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Fwiw, according to M.A.-D. in LEXICON URTHUS, "The number seventeen alludes to the Soviet politburo, which typically had seventeen members (eleven to twelve full members and six to…
19 May 2006, 04:43
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I agree that Baldanders was just a man, at least to start with. On the last day of Urth, Severian saw him and thought he "was grown too large for me to think him human ever again, …
19 May 2006, 00:39
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Because they live counterclockwise. That meeting at the castle was supposed to be, from their point of view, the last with Severian -- and would have been if Wolfe hadn't written U…
18 May 2006, 21:47
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"Yellowish" is the term Severian uses, by which I assume he means blond. This was old hat, even before the clone wars. I do hope you're not going *there*. <g> -Roy…
18 May 2006, 20:22
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And in a follow-up post, b sharp wrote: [snip] [snip] Just for the record, Robert did not miss the giant baby in the castle. In fact, his discussion of that child forms the conc…
16 May 2006, 22:44
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Different people have differing thresholds of credulity. <g> Is that how it's going to be done -- summarizing posts? Let me spell out my concerns, which are primarily related to t…
15 May 2006, 18:17
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What is fictive fact and what is theory -- and who decides? Is it a fact that Weer is dead, or that Dorcas is Severian's grandmother? These two cases are not that controversial; co…
10 May 2006, 06:58
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He must be thinking of a long paragraph in chapter XXX of CLAW, when Severian was thinking of his childhood visit to the witches' tower, where he first saw Merryn. His description …
07 May 2006, 06:11
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The above passages prove only that the Matachin Tower was a spaceship. More than once in the Urth cycle Severian dreams/imagines the old spaceships blasting off into space. Somewhe…
06 May 2006, 18:40
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but I remember nothing to indicate the whole Citadel being a massive ship on par with the Quasar, rather than Nessus old space port.<< That is correct. The Citadel was the old spa…
05 May 2006, 19:00
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Did you mean Jonas? I don't recall Hethor ever using a Wellerism. Miles, of course, did. So did Gunnie. (18) As did the old moonraker captain near the end of CITADEL, so that type …
03 May 2006, 08:51
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I'm thinking of a different dog fight in the Sun Cycle, but I'm so glad someone who isn't me pointed this out. <g> -Roy…
02 May 2006, 20:16
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Before dissolving into nothingness, the aquastor Malrubius in CITADEL said he and Triskele were "beings created and sustained by the power of the imagination and the concentration …
02 May 2006, 08:38
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That's very interesting. I've never heard that before, and it never occurred to me. Or are you equating Hethor with Purn? Care to elaborate? -Roy…
02 May 2006, 05:47
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Jeff answered your question, so, just because those flood waters had to have been muddy anyway, I should point out that Juturna is inconsistent. That is, though her stint as lifegu…
29 Apr 2006, 06:17
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Maybe I worded it clumsily. I was saying that there is no reason the undines' future knowledge doesn't extend *past* the flood, since, based on the fact that the Gyoll drowning inc…
28 Apr 2006, 18:20
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Pursuant to what I posted earlier this month: In the last paragraph of chapter 30 of CITADEL, the aquastor Malrubius said, ""No, we do not take you to the paramours of Abaia, those…
28 Apr 2006, 06:21
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Not to be pedantic but, several times recently "Hieros" has been used here where the term was clearly not intended. It's an easy mistake to make; I did it at least once myself, yea…
27 Apr 2006, 05:07
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Greetings, Rex Fwiw, and speaking in general terms, I think you got it right. I don't think there's much room for doubt that the sun was wounded in Typhon's era. That's why he me…
26 Apr 2006, 19:26
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Your post broke off mid-word. Where's the rest of it? -Roy…
08 Apr 2006, 18:11
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The meeting in the throne room with Juturna was the third for Sev. The second meeting was at the Cephissus river, when she tried to seduce him. At that time she mentioned having pr…
07 Apr 2006, 18:35
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I took the apparent changes in the inhuma's story to be the product of Silkhorn's seeming ability, while awake, to influence her storytelling, not that he was actually able to chan…
06 Apr 2006, 19:18
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Excuse me, but these speculations on the relativistic effects of acceleration on the _Whorl_ have nothing to do with the astral travels Dan'l mentioned. Silkhorn did his traveling …
06 Apr 2006, 07:52
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Andrew stated his case in his original post, so I won't bother to quote it all; just lend him some support. Btw, it is nowhere indicated in the books that the ability to breath und…
06 Apr 2006, 07:06
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I think what Andrew is getting at is the rather glaring lack of apparent recognition between Merryn and Severian at the end of CLAW. From Sev's personal perspective, the meeting in…
05 Apr 2006, 20:54
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I have just learned that Robert Borski has a new book out. The title is _The LONG and the SHORT of IT_, subtitled "More Essays On The Fiction Of Gene Wolfe". It is published by iUn…
02 Mar 2006, 23:08
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In the passage in question (CLAW, XXII), Severian remarks on Baldanders' slow speech and "dull eyes". He also writes, "I found it impossible to be angry with this dim, gentle giant…
25 Feb 2006, 20:22
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Too late, I remembered that Saltus was on the river and Thrax was near its headwaters. -Roy…
25 Feb 2006, 07:59
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You must be referring to the brief exchange Sev had with Baldanders after escaping from the antechamber. It was only then that we learned that Baldanders had been with Sev "in the …
25 Feb 2006, 07:19
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I agree with what Aquastor said, and Crush had earlier implied much the same. Book one ended with a cliff-hanger. Readers expected to find out what happened in the next installment…
24 Feb 2006, 08:49
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And that's part of the reason why what happened that morning at the Gate was so unusual. The large volume of travelers waiting to exit the city when the gates opened each morning i…
23 Feb 2006, 08:21
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The question of what happened at the Piteous Gate has, indeed, been the subject of sometimes heated debate here over the years. So far as I recall, however, Mr. Ellis is in the min…
22 Feb 2006, 07:08
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Then we are largely in agreement that the Hierogrammate's actions were religiously motivated. The only real difference is whether or not they in fact had the Increate's ear, so to …
30 Jan 2006, 07:18
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Last spring I argued, largely with Adam Stephanides, in large part about the role of the Hierogrammates in the Increate's designs for humanity. Simply put, I contended that the Hie…
28 Jan 2006, 07:38
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Last Feb. 25, I made a speculative post about Mag, and Art's mysterious connections to her. Here is a tidbit I overlooked, but which only serves to muddy the waters further. It com…
21 Dec 2005, 06:22
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There are several things about the last few pages of TWK that puzzle me, things that may or may not be related, but which are too convoluted to tackle at one time, so I'll stick wi…
19 Dec 2005, 07:37
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