{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/64",
    "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": 64,
    "subject": "Severian's Mother and _Castle of the Otter_",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1987-04-03T17:03:12+00:00",
    "last": "1987-04-03T17:03:12+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<sflovers-v12-135-11@digest.sf-lovers>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Kevin Maroney",
        "address": "dg_rtp!kjm at rutgers.edu"
      },
      "date": "1987-04-03T17:03:12+00:00",
      "subject": "Severian's Mother and _Castle of the Otter_",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "In response to an earlier posting of mine:\n\nIn _Castle of the Otter_, a 1982 volume concerning _The Book of the\nNew Sun_, Wolfe does indeed state that Holy Katherine, the patron of\nthe guild of torturers (note that this in not capitalized, as it is\nnot the proper name of the Order), is Saint Catherine of Alexandria.\nCatherine was tried and put to death for criticizing the treatment\nof Christians at the hands of Maxentius, a Roman Emperor. (Time\nframe: fourth century.)  She was placed on the wheel, but it broke\ndown, and she was then decapitated. She forgave her executioner.\n\nThat chapter of _Castle_ goes on to describe the evolution of the\nstory \"The Feast of Saint Catherine\", which Wolfe originally saw as\na novella, into the tetralogy it is today.\n\nI found _Castle_ to be a delightful and fascinating book. It\ncontains a great deal of information on the _BoTNS_, including a\nglossary of _Shadow of the Torturer_, discussions of futuristic\ncavalry, advice to beginning writers, a description of Wolfe's (then\ncurrent, only recently abdicated) position as a senior editor of\n_Plant Engineering_ magazine, and a chapter of jokes told by the\ncharacters of the _Book_. Most importantly, it contains a\nchronological bibliography of Wolfe's spec-fic works. It is\navailable as a limited edition (signed and numbered, I believe)\npublished by Zeisling Bros, and also in an edition from the Science\nFiction Book Club. I don't know how to order it from the SFBC; I got\nmy copy from an ad in _Locus_.\n\nI will share with you my favorite joke from _Castle_. It is told by\nMaster Ash, the Last Man.\n\n\"Once a man such as I, a man who walks the corridors of time, was\napproached by a rich woman. \"I wish to see the end of the world,\"\nshe said. \"Show it to me, and I will double your fortune.\"\n\n\"Doubled, my fortune would remain but small,\" said the scholar.\n\n\"Tripled, if you like,\" said the woman.\n\nThen the rich woman told him all her riches should do to him and his\nchildren if he did not obey her.\n\n\"Very well then,\" said the scholar. \"Would you like to see the time\nwhen the sun swells and Urth falls thereto like a cinder in a\ngrate?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the rich woman. \"That is only a larger fire, and I have\nseen many fires.\"\n\n\"Then would you see the Grand Gnab, when the universe shall fall\ninto itself?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the rich woman. \"For that is not the end of anything, but\nthe beginning of a new universe.\"\n\n\"Then tell me what I must show you,\" said the scholar.\n\nThe rich woman took thought with herself, and at last she said,\n\"Show me the end of life. I would see the last agonies of the last\ncreature to live upon Urth.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the scholar; and they stood upon a plain of ice,\nwith the red sun no brighter than the moon.\n\n\"Where is the last creature?\" said the woman. \"That is what I wish\nto see. Here every thing is already dead.\" A cold wind scoured the\nplain, and she drew her furs more tightly around her.\n\n\"Why no,\" the scholar told her. \"You live, and so do I.\" Handing her\na mirror, he vanished down the corridors of time.\n\nThe preceeding joke was Copyright 1982 by Gene Wolfe, and was\nincluded as part of a review of _Castle of the Otter_. This posting\nis in no way intended to infringe upon the copyright of Mr. Wolfe.\nAll rights reserved. It may not be duplicated by any means for any\npurposes without written permission of the copyright holder.\n\nKevin J. Maroney"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}