Subject: Gene Wolfe, Severian, and Latro

From: Brian Hilchie <alzabo!brian at scs.carleton.ca>
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1988 01:54:41 +0000

I have just returned to the net after a lengthy absence so I apologize if
this has come up recently.

Has there been in the last few months or will there be in the near future
anything published by Gene Wolfe, particularly followups to _Soldier of the
Mist_ and _The Urth of the New Sun_?

Also, does anyone share my suspicion that Latro (from SofM) and Severian
(_The Book of the New Sun_ and TUofNS) are the same person?  I don't have
any hard evidence for this, but the ending of TUofNS leaves this
possibility open, and I find the similarities and contrasts between the two
characters very intriguing.  Any comments supporting or refuting this
theory are welcome.

Brian Hilchie

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From: Chuq Von Rospach <chuq%plaid at sun.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1988 23:39:32 +0000

>anything published by Gene Wolfe, particularly followups to _Soldier of
>the Mist_ and _The Urth of the New Sun_?

No. His latest is "There are Doors" (Tor hardcover), which is unrelated to
anything else (except, from what I can tell having just started it, Free
Live Free in spirit...). Based on what he told me a while back, his next
book will be the follow-up to Soldier of the Mist (title unfortunately
forgotten....) probably about mid-year. There are going to be more
followups of both series, but I don't know the details.

>possibility open

While we didn't discuss this point directly, from my discussions with Wolfe
I don't see this as being true. He views them as separate series, not
Asimovesque independent series wedged together into an artificial
similarity.

Chuq Von Rospach

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From: Jim Gardner <jagardner at watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1988 21:30:31 +0000

brian at alzabo.UUCP (Brian Hilchie) writes:
>Does anyone share my suspicion that Latro (from SofM) and Severian (_The
>Book of the New Sun_ and TUofNS) are the same person?

To me, it's pretty clear that Soldier of the Mist is a "book-end" to the
Book of the New Sun.  In other words, Wolfe got SotM by reversing most of
BotNS.  For example, Severian remembers everything while Latro remembers
nothing. While everything in New Sun was strange and aged and decadent (to
a greater or lesser extent), everything in SotM is very simple and "pure":
for example, cities have names like "Truth".

There is a strong parallelism between Severian's companions and Latro's:
the young innocent woman; the old sorceror/sorceress who is not what (s)he
seems; the giant; and so on.  I'm afraid it's been a long time since I read
SotM, and it hasn't stuck in my memory as well as BotNS; but I remember
saying "Aha!" over and over again as familiar incidents from BotNS popped
up in SotM, rearranged or reversed.

Jim Gardner
University of Waterloo