{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/101", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "sflovers", "thread": { "id": 101, "subject": "Gene Wolfe: The Soldier series", "messages": 4, "voices": 4, "first": "1992-08-17T01:16:32+00:00", "last": "1992-08-19T16:07:37+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Rolando Vinluan", "address": "rvinluan at cs.cornell.edu" }, "date": "1992-08-17T01:16:32+00:00", "subject": "Gene Wolfe: The Soldier series", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I just finished Soldier of Arete. It was truly unique, though-provoking,\nexciting...I like it better than his New Sun series, actually, in part\nbecause it deals with real history. I'm going to re-read Soldier of the\nMist then next time I'm home.\n\nQuestions:\n\n 1) Pindaros's chapter in the end, trying to mimic Homer I think, was a\nbit confusing. The Amazon (Pharetra/Hippostizein) won the chariot race,\nright? Was this because Latro let him win it?\n\n 2) I don't have the first book, and the second doesn't come with a map,\nso can somebody help me with the modern names of the places? Rope is\nSparta, Thrace is well, Thrace. But Hill, Tower Hill, Sestos, Nestos,\nCowland...HELP!?!?\n\n 3) Is this the third book out yet? I don't think it's in paperback, but\nin hardcover?\n\n 4) Who else besides me likes this series better than the New Sun series\n(though honestly, I haven't read \"Urth of the New Sun\" yet).\n\n 5) Any good books about Ancient Greece you can recommend? My main\nreference was Will Durant's \"The Story of Civilization,\" which is of course\ngood and a classic, but I don't have that with me right now." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Gavin Steyn", "address": "steyn at cs.rochester.edu" }, "date": "1992-08-17T03:50:47+00:00", "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe: The Soldier series", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "rvinluan at cs.cornell.edu (Rolando Vinluan) writes:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " 2) I don't have the first book, and the second doesn't come with a map,\nso can somebody help me with the modern names of the places? Rope is\nSparta, Thrace is well, Thrace. But Hill, Tower Hill, Sestos, Nestos,\nCowland...HELP!?!?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The only one I remember is that Thought is Athens. The first book doesn't\nhave a map either. And knowing Greek wouldn't help, because Latro gets\nsome of the names wrong (I remember Wolfe saying, for example, that he\nmistranslates Athens as Thought)" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " 3) Is this the third book out yet? I don't think it's in paperback, but\nin hardcover?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "There may not be a third book. Wolfe says he just plans to write them\nwhenver he feels the interest. They're going to be a kind of walking tour\nof ancient Greece." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " 4) Who else besides me likes this series better than the New Sun series\n(though honestly, I haven't read \"Urth of the New Sun\" yet)." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "It's a tough call...I liked this series better the first time I read it.\nHowever, I just re-read the Book of the New Sun last summer, and enjoyed it\nmore than I had before. Now I'll have to re-read _Soldier of the Mists_ to\nfind out :-).\n\nGavin Steyn" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Dan Tilque", "address": "dant at techbook.com" }, "date": "1992-08-19T10:33:15+00:00", "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe: The Soldier series", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "2) I don't have the first book, and the second doesn't come with a map,\nso can somebody help me with the modern names of the places? Rope is\nSparta, Thrace is well, Thrace. But Hill, Tower Hill, Sestos, Nestos,\nCowland...HELP!?!?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "The only one I remember is that Thought is Athens. " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "If I remember correctly, Tower Hill is Corinth. If not then Hill is." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "The first book doesn't have a map either." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "But it has a glossary. " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "There may not be a third book. Wolfe says he just plans to write them\nwhenver he feels the interest. They're going to be a kind of walking tour\nof ancient Greece." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "When I found out that it was a tour, I lost interest in the story. After\nreading Soldier in the Mist, I thought it was a modern version of a Greek\ntragedy. The premise of the story certainly seems like that's what it\nshould be. But Arete doesn't advance this aspect at all. He just keeps\nwandering around Greece.\n\nDan Tilque" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Thomas Duffey", "address": "duffey at uxh.cso.uiuc.edu" }, "date": "1992-08-19T16:07:37+00:00", "subject": "Re: Gene Wolfe: The Soldier series", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "dant at techbook.com (Dan Tilque) writes:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "If I remember correctly, Tower Hill is Corinth. If not then Hill is." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " Yes, Tower Hill is Corinth. Hill is Thebes, Sestos is Sestos, Nestos I\ndon't remember being in the book, Cowland is Boetia, Goodcattle Island is\nEuboea (sp?), Bearland is Arcadia (another example of mistranslation, I\nbelieve), the Hot Gates are Thermopylae, Redface Island is the Pelopennese,\nRiverland is Egypt (obviously so, in Soldier of Arete) and that's all I can\nremember off the top of my head.\n\n I too enjoyed these books a great deal, and reading them sparked an\ninterest in ancient history when I tried to track down the events described\nwithin the books.\n\nTom Duffey" } ] } ] }