Subject: (urth) Sev's Dad; Aztecs in Space

From: Robert Borski <rborski at coredcs.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 21:14:18 +0000

Don't know if this has been brought up before, but if Owen/Ouen is
considered to be the Welsh/Celtic equivalent of Eugene, doesn't that mean
Sev's father might also be called Gene?

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One of the more puzzling names in THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS to be sourced
is the Country of Friends. It's cited by the abos as the possible homeport
of the star-faring Homo sapiens pangalacticus, who've traveled to Saint
Anne in the distant past, and mentioned in the same breath as Atlantis and
Gondwanaland.

I'm now speculating it relates to the Aztecs.

This is because Texas--where Gene Wolfe grew up--is derived from the Indian
word "texia," meaning "friends." And since Texas was once part of Mexico,
it's possible the Country of Friends generally refers to Aztecan
civilization.

I like this notion because it plays off of several aspects. (1) It has the
GW autobiographical element we see so often in FIFTH HEAD. (2) Many
pseudo-scientific theories would have us believe that [a] the Aztecs,
Toltecs, Incas et al. are all survivors of the Atlantean catastrophe, or
[b] were contacted by, or are descendents, of prehistoric spacetravelers.
And (3) many of the MesoAmerican Indian tribes were also cannibalistic, as
are the Annese. 

Whether this is original with Wolfe, or if Country of Friends is someone
else's coinage, remains to be determined.

Robert Borski

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: William H. Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 23:50:38 +0000

>it's possible the Country of Friends generally refers to Aztecan

I like this too.

I have a nagging idea that the phrase "the Country of Friends" occurs
elsewhere in Wolfe and I have seen it recently in my rereading. If I find
the reference, I will certainly post.

William Ansley

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From: Derek Bell <dbell at maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 18:22:08 +0000

>the reference, I will certainly post.

	I think it's in the short story _Feather Tigers_, IIRC. It
occurs in the dialog between the main protagonist and the sky(space?)
yacht.

	Derek