{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/sflovers/68", "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": 68, "subject": "Urth of the New Sun", "messages": 6, "voices": 6, "first": "1987-11-16T13:29:35+00:00", "last": "1987-11-27T23:31:44+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "John Cherniavsky", "address": "jcc at mimsy.umd.edu" }, "date": "1987-11-16T13:29:35+00:00", "subject": "Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, Urth of the New Sun (Tor\nHardcover). Written very much in the style of the three\npredecessors. Some, but not everything, explained (at least to my\nsatisfaction). More complete review with minor spoilers later also\nreview of Jack Vance's latest." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Kai Quale", "address": "quale%si.uninett at tor.nta.no" }, "date": "1987-11-23T08:56:02+00:00", "subject": "Re: Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, Urth of the New Sun (Tor\nHardcover). Written very much in the style of the three\npredecessors. Some, but not everything, explained (at least to my\nsatisfaction). More complete review with minor spoilers later also\nreview of Jack Vance's latest." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Huh ?!? The *series* is called Book of the New Sun. The fourth book\nis called *Citadel of the Autarch*. I have never heard of UotNS. Is\nit the fifth ?\n\nKai" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Chuq Von Rospach", "address": "chuq at plaid.sun.com" }, "date": "1987-11-23T17:44:40+00:00", "subject": "Re: Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Just finished Gene Wolfe's latest, Urth of the New Sun (Tor\nHardcover). Written very much in the style of the three\npredecessors. Some, but not everything, explained (at least to my\nsatisfaction). More complete review with minor spoilers later also\nreview of Jack Vance's latest." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Huh ?!? The *series* is called Book of the New Sun. The fourth book\nis called *Citadel of the Autarch*. I have never heard of UotNS. Is\nit the fifth ?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "It is the fifth. It starts a new cycle in the New Sun series. Tor\nhardcover, also a Gollancz Hardcover in the UK.\n\nAnd if you want to be technical about it, the fifth book is really\n\"Castle of the Otter\" which is a small non-fiction book that\nexplains the background and etymology of Urth. Wonderful book, if\nyou can find it. Fortunately there is a Science Fiction Book Club\nedition.\n\nChuq Von Rospach" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "obrien", "address": "obrien at aerospace.aero.org" }, "date": "1987-11-24T16:17:50+00:00", "subject": "Re: Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I haven't seen many mentions of this yet, so here's a mini-review.\n\nI'm biased, I admit it. I'm one of those insufferable *****'s who\nthinks \"The Book of the New Sun\" is the best thing the field's seen\nin the last ten years or more.\n\nIn some ways I found the new offering a disappointment. To a large\nextent it merely seems to be a confirmation of the tenuous\nconclusions one could draw from \"The Book of the New Sun\" if one\nworked hard enough at it. It also does not weave as rich a\ntapestry, but this may be because it is only a third the length of\nthe earlier work. If one considers it a short story following a\nnovel, it does quite well.\n\n There is room for the pleasant speculation that is so much a part\nof the earlier work. One possibility: Do we meet Jason in the new\nbook?\n\n For those who love Wolfe's use of language, that is here, in\nfull. And it does serve to explain one or two incidents in the\nearlier books that were, to me, almost completely incomprehensible\n(such as the very mysterious run-in with Apu-Punchau in the stone\ncity). Although it is not of the same length or complexity as the\nearlier book/books, it is certainly a worthy successor. For me, it\npassed the final test: after reading it, I haven't been able to read\nanything since. Everything else seems tepid and shallow in\ncomparison.\n\nRecommended, but only for those who have read \"The Book of the New\nSun\".\n\nMike O'Brien\nobrien at aerospace.aero.org" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Not That One!", "address": "mcnc!rti!xyzzy!kjm at rutgers.edu" }, "date": "1987-11-27T06:15:23+00:00", "subject": "Re: Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "_The Urth of the New Sun_ is here, and it's a knockout.\n This is the long-awaited sequel to _The Book of the New Sun_, Gene\nWolfe's monumental four-volume novel about the life under the dying\nsun of the cradle of mankind, Wolfe's masterpiece.\n _Urth_ begins immediately after _The Book_ ends: Severian the\nTorturer, Autarch of Urth, Examplar of Man, has boarded the ship\nthat will take him far from Urth to face judgement to determine\nwhether he will bring a White Fountain to rejuvenate the Sun. The\nship is enormous, possessing sufficient mass to generate a\ngravitational field about 1/8th that of Urth. Severian spends some\ntime wandering about it, exploring this world, while various\nfactions attempt to assassinate him. He spends a fair amount of time\nfalling great heights without suffering serious injury and evading\nhostile forces trying to prevent his success.\n After he arrives at the planet of judgement, in the universe of\nYesod, he discovers both how important and unimportant he is in the\neyes of God; eventually, he is returned to Urth, but things have\nchanged. The latter half of the novel entails his encounters on\nUrth, in a variety of identities and locales, until his final\narrival at his true berth.\n\n I really don't want to go into any detail in a general review;\nhowever, I will mention that the beautiful prose, oblique\nstory-telling, intricate time-travel, grand philisophical insights,\nand general brilliance of _The Book_ are all here, although fewer of\nthem than in the original, which was, after all, much longer. A\ngreat deal of _Urth_ is concerned with making more plain the\nunravelling of mysteries established in the first; since I was\nconfident in my understanding of most all of that work, they came as\nno surprise. However, I will state that _Urth_ was completely unlike\nmy expectations of it, and disappointed me not in the least.\n From what I understand, there will be no further volumes detailing\nthe life of Severian; this was intended as the coda to the concerto\nof _The Book_, and after its final (uplifted) note, we must deduce\nthe rest of Severian's life ourselves--and with him, the life of\nMan.\n Yes, _Castle_ is a _New Sun_ book (actually, I believe it was\npublished fourth, between _Sword and Citadel_ and is very worth\ngetting from the SFBC. Besides interesting insights into _The Book_,\nit also has memorable bits about being a convention guest and plans\nto put MX missles on wooden sailing ships in the Pacific.\n\nKevin J. Maroney" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "ames!lll-tis!ptsfa!pbhyc!djo", "address": "ames!lll-tis!ptsfa!pbhyc!djo at ucbvax.berkeley.edu" }, "date": "1987-11-27T23:31:44+00:00", "subject": "Re: Urth of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "kjm at dg-rtp.UUCP (Not That One!) writes:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " _Urth_ begins immediately after _The Book_ ends: Severian the\nTorturer, Autarch of Urth, Examplar of Man, has boarded the ship\nthat will take him far from Urth to face judgement" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Uhhh...I suppose this is *technically* correct, since at the end of\ntBotNS Severian says he is writing immediately before boarding the\nship...but what is not mentioned in tBotNS, and is mentioned only in\noblique references in tUotNS, is the decade Severian has spent as\nAutarch. The *action* of tUotNS, thus, begins long after the\n*action* of tBotNS ended." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "A great deal of _Urth_ is concerned with making more plain the\nunravelling of mysteries established in the first" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This is, for many, the biggest complaint with tUotNS; most of us\nliked the vague, implied feel of those \"mysteries\" -- the answers\nwere always there, if you could figure them out; but now the puzzle\nhas been taken away." } ] } ] }