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What if, in the fiction of BotNS, Wolfe made his own history, mythology, etc. Where we have analogies to things like Christianity, but there never actually was a Jesus per se. Tha…
16 Aug 2010, 13:31
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True, however, I was raised Catholic, and Pantheism has become my belief of choice. It handles the science as well as the "why do we dream" aspect of our life (as well as "what is …
15 Aug 2010, 00:42
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If you are Pantheist, then you believe the Universe is equivalent to God. If you are Panenthiest, you believe the Universe is connected to God, and that God is above the substantiv…
14 Aug 2010, 21:54
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What do you make of Little Severian? ...ryan…
14 Aug 2010, 14:39
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Thanks for the clarification. ...ryan…
14 Aug 2010, 13:19
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No, the positive ID was that Dorcas was Ouen's mother, if I recall. The ID that Severian was their grandson was based on Ouen's profile, based on a comment by the Innkeep off-hande…
14 Aug 2010, 13:07
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Nicholas, You can quote from your iPhone. Just select the text in the original message you want quoted, then when you go to hit Reply, it will only excerpt the selection. I do thi…
14 Aug 2010, 02:37
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Damn you, Lackey. You're absolutely right about the coin. And motivations do fall apart regarding Severian at the play on stage and in the crowd rather quickly under your scrutiniz…
13 Aug 2010, 19:51
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As long as you agree that each universe lives dies and is reborn, then yes. At least, Briah does this, and when it does this, there is not overlap. Each Universe should have its ow…
13 Aug 2010, 19:12
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I think it is from the smoothness of the coin, here is how Severian describes Vodalus's coin upon receipt: "He laid something in my palm: a small coin so smooth it seemed greased.…
13 Aug 2010, 18:36
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Was I the only one who, when first reading UotNS, thought that Yesod was simply a planet? He took off his necklace because he could breathe the air, etc. ...ryan…
13 Aug 2010, 18:03
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Two more curiosities. When they are interrupted by Hethor in the field while dividing the dropsies, Talos says they have been reduced to single orichalks, Dorcas offers to take the…
13 Aug 2010, 16:58
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Can I make one more bold proposal? I can? Good, thanks. Since the false coins are never used, is it possible these coins bear Severian's face? I mean, after all, we've come to a b…
13 Aug 2010, 16:48
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You're right, I'm wrong. I stand persuaded. I was trying to make a hexagonal peg fit in a triangular hole. Which makes Severian's moment in the mausoleum more of just textbook fore…
13 Aug 2010, 16:44
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Well Briah and Urth are connected, in the text. If what you mean is, Urth isn't the only place to hold hoomins in Briah, then okay, but the text implies Urth was the center, mecca,…
13 Aug 2010, 16:32
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Yes, but there's such linearity between Pre-Briah imploding (Yesod looking forward and back, the flower cycle of divine years, the word "succession" being used, past tense for post…
13 Aug 2010, 15:39
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Okay, but it is called a false coin and rather readily by Dr. Talos, so what marks it as false? Dr. Talos is quick to tell Severian and Dorcas to be careful using the second coin w…
13 Aug 2010, 15:29
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I thought it was pretty clear that (as far as Severian knows and can guess), and as far as Apheta's words and Malrubius's, that the hierogrammates were NOT created by Urthlings. A…
13 Aug 2010, 14:31
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I just caught this, wondered what you guys thought of this. Near the end of Citadel, Dr. Talos is granted an audience with Severian. He gives him a coin, one he never got to give …
13 Aug 2010, 14:18
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Nicholas, would "heaven" count a place Catholics "ascend" to? If heaven is a metaphor here, after all Severian uses "divine year" as a universe rebirth, then how interesting that i…
13 Aug 2010, 02:59
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I wanted to break down the passage that has everyone in a tizzy trying to demystify. I don't know that I'll do much better, but seeing the text along with the deduction should at l…
13 Aug 2010, 02:55
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Strong emphasis on FORWARD AND BACKWARD regarding Yesods vantage in the multiverse. The word SUCCESSION is used in that chapter regarding universes. I envision the cabalistic mode…
12 Aug 2010, 23:42
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- Humans from a universe that imploded. - A passage (wormhole?) was created between Yesod and the universe that imploded, the one they were made in, the one they escaped from. Al…
12 Aug 2010, 23:35
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Or superspace? ...ryan…
12 Aug 2010, 18:16
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I'll take up the mantle for a moment... I believe a better hybrid would be Dale Stockman. Either that or Liev Bermoff. ...ryan…
12 Aug 2010, 14:57
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Funny. I almost thought you were talking about Rudesind and "your blue Urth" for a minute there. :) ...ryan…
12 Aug 2010, 13:25
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Aah, I thought he snuck out of the window not jumped, but either way, yes so the windows are basically portals to whatever the person inside sees outside, then. ...ryan…
11 Aug 2010, 17:55
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This undermines the impossible complexity, and intricacy of BotNS. It also cheapens the literary impact of the text as a whole, to chalk up a series that has inspired over fifteen …
11 Aug 2010, 17:22
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Furthermore, the entire Botanic seems to work off the mirrors causing the time changes. Time is slower in some rooms, and faster in others, but the mirrors are always present, bend…
11 Aug 2010, 17:16
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Certainly. Did I miss the part where he jumps out? Or are you referring to the house growing rooms? ...ryan…
11 Aug 2010, 17:12
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What happens if you jump out of the window of a tower in the Atrium of Time or the Last House? In the Botanic Gardens, the sand garden has a similar effect, but there is no struct…
11 Aug 2010, 16:11
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Something like this, Lee? http://img1.artweb.com/users/7588/218163_multiverse-28.jpg Pardon the New Age diagram, but Multiverse has several visual interpretations. This was just …
11 Aug 2010, 04:13
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Sorry, not ALL off-stage of course. And your last observation, about going back in time to bring the New Sun, so that it may feel like just days later on Urth when they get their m…
10 Aug 2010, 19:59
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What's good about all of this discourse, is that while it makes my head swim, Wolfe never intended for it to be part of Severian's journey, as it was all off-stage. So when I think…
10 Aug 2010, 19:54
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I think I phrased it poorly. Here's a better way: I think Wolfe made sure that every riddle he put into his text was answered in the text, without the coda UotNS. Meaning, in the…
10 Aug 2010, 15:18
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I may have missed this, but is it definite that the face on the coin is the Old Autarch? I thought it was Tzdakiel for a while, probably because of the ship volant on the obverse s…
10 Aug 2010, 14:24
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Lee, this is a good point. But I think it's worth countering that, while the narrators may be unreliable, the author (GW) certainly is not. In fact, you might argue that the more u…
10 Aug 2010, 00:57
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I mean two women who coexist at different ages, but are in fact the same person. And no, I don't have anyone in mind right now, but Dorcas and Valeria are potential candidates, hav…
09 Aug 2010, 03:40
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There's also this... "Birds unknown to me called overhead, and once a monkey who might, save for his four hands, have been a wizened, red-bearded man in fur, spied on me from a fo…
09 Aug 2010, 00:52
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On that note, following the clue book motif, who might Gunnie/Burgundafora point back to? Anyone? ...ryan…
08 Aug 2010, 14:23
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Another thing. I think in some ways, UotNS is basically BotNS For Dummies. Zak is, to me, a demonstration of shapeshifting so undeniable that we may be prompted to look back at the…
07 Aug 2010, 14:20
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It is Lupine Gospel, however, that Dorcas and the boatman are Severian's paternal grandparents, yes? ...ryan…
06 Aug 2010, 19:33
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I shouldn't have put quotes around dying. He truly meant to die for his sin. ...ryan…
06 Aug 2010, 13:36
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I meant the scene where he's offering Gurloes ways of "dying" so that his betrayal won't shame the guild, even though to do so would be illegal and immoral. I believe he offers up…
06 Aug 2010, 13:28
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True, I just got wrapped up in the hero quest aspect of the text, I guess, and the need for a new Sun, come hell or high water (or both). ...ryan…
06 Aug 2010, 05:12
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Sure, so is your idea that the fulgurator "divines" the truth the way the priests of old divined the meaning of lightning strikes from the gods? Or do you see the fulgurator as an …
06 Aug 2010, 04:54
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You had me until alien monsters. Severian at no point that I saw allies with alien monsters with the intention of destroying Urth. Do you really think his action of bringing the N…
06 Aug 2010, 04:14
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From "Roman and European Mythologies" by Yves Bonnefoy, 1991: "The observation and interpretation of lightning bolts was left to a special priest called a fulgurator." Apparently…
06 Aug 2010, 04:09
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Really? I wouldn't have guessed polygraph examiner from fulgurator, but I could be off target. I see traces to the Latin root fulgur which means a flash of lightning. In Latin, a …
06 Aug 2010, 03:56
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Fulgurator as in someone who practices diathermy? What would the examiner do? Is it a good cop/bad cop thing? One's doing the flaying, one's relieving the pain enough to keep the e…
06 Aug 2010, 02:43
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