{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2013", "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": "urth", "thread": { "id": 2013, "subject": "FAQ (Seeley's piece)", "messages": 1, "voices": 1, "first": "1999-12-02T17:02:08+00:00", "last": "1999-12-02T17:02:08+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ron Hale-Evans", "address": "rwhe at apocalypse.org" }, "date": "1999-12-02T17:02:08+00:00", "subject": "(urth) FAQ (Seeley's piece)", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Here is Donn Seeley's article, as promised. Does anyone know him? Can we\nget his permission to merge his questions with mantis's? (Thanks, mantis,\nBTW.)\n\nRon H-E\n\np.s. I believe the Asimov novel referred to is _The Robots of Dawn_ with\nits society functioning through holographic communication.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\nRelay-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site utah-gr.UUCP\nPosting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site utah-gr.UUCP\nPath: utah-gr!donn\nFrom: donn at utah-gr.UUCP (Donn Seeley)\nNewsgroups: net.sf-lovers\nSubject: Re: Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun\nMessage-ID: <1252 at utah-gr.UUCP>\nDate: Fri, 23 Nov 84 06:27:52 MST\nDate-Received: Fri, 23 Nov 84 06:27:52 MST\nReferences: <639 at loral.UUCP> <380 at petsd.UUCP>\nOrganization: CS Dept., University of Utah\nLines: 80\n\nI've been out of town and just recently managed to get caught up with\neverything -- otherwise I would have attended to this earlier.\n(Perhaps not coincidentally, my trip was to recover my library from\nstorage, including THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN!) Beware: some spoilers may\nlurk in the following discussion...\n\nIn the last chapter of THE CITADEL OF THE AUTARCH, Severian says:\n\n\tHave I told you all I promised? I am aware that at various\n\tplaces in my narrative I have pledged that this or that should\n\tbe made clear in the knitting up of the story. I remember them\n\tall, I am sure, but then I remember so much else. Before you\n\tassume that I have cheated you, read again, as I will write\n\tagain.\n\nWolfe is something of a fan of detective fiction (as you might guess\nfrom his story 'The Rubber Bend'), and the last several chapters\nconsist of the summation which the great detective always makes at the\nend of the story. Of course Wolfe doesn't want to spoil the fun of\nfinding the answers, so he answers things obliquely, and you have to\nread carefully to guess at what particular puzzle is being explained.\n\nI don't like to spoil the fun either, but I will mention some points to\ndirect your re-reading that stem from things I've noticed or read\nelsewhere.\n\n +\tEasy one: Can you draw Severian's family tree? There are a\n\tnumber of red herrings which appear in the course of the books\n\tbut the answer to this is fairly clear by the end of CITADEL.\n\n +\tWhat is the connection between the gold coin which Vodalus gave\n\tto Severian, and Dr. Talos? What relates it to the Sun and to\n\tthe old mausoleum in the necropolis of the Citadel? Bonus\n\tquestion, unrelated: What was the original function of the\n\tCitadel?\n\n +\tWhat generates the apparitions of Master Malrubius and the dog,\n\tTriskele? This should be easy to answer, perhaps more so\n\tbecause of the recent Asimov novel. (There does seem to be a\n\tcurious parallel between Asimov's universe and Wolfe's...)\n\n +\tWhat really happened in the climactic event of THE CLAW OF THE\n\tCONCILIATOR? I don't believe this is stated directly but it is\n\trelatively straightforward to guess.\n\n +\tWhat is the basis of the Urthian religion? Analogies with at\n\tleast two of our religions come to mind.\n\n +\tWho is the Conciliator? What is Severian's connection to him,\n\tand to the New Sun? Who is responsible for this connection?\n\n +\tFinally, why is a rose's thorn as efficacious as the Claw? If\n\tyou understand this, you understand the core of the books.\n\nYou have 30 minutes. Put your pencil down to indicate when you have\nfinished. Start now.\n\nThere are lots of fun things to look for besides plot events, of\ncourse. One is tracing the origins of the stories and legends which\nthe people of Urth tell. Another is catching references to Jorge Luis\nBorges' works; two places to look are the story of Domnina's encounter\nwith Father Inire, and 'The Tale of the Student and His Son'. (There\nare others, too...) Another is looking for little clevernesses -- for\nexample, what book in the set of four which Severian fetches for Thecla\ndoes he NOT describe? (I wouldn't have noticed this if Wolfe hadn't\nmentioned it in an article.) If you fancy this sort of thing, it helps\nto have a copy of THE CASTLE OF THE OTTER and to read 'The Books in THE\nBOOK OF THE NEW SUN' in PLAN[E]T ENGINEERING (which also has a map of\nthe continent on which Nessus is located).\n\nWolfe started working on THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN in 1975 and the last\nvolume wasn't published until 1983. Think of all the effort that went\ninto it -- it shouldn't be surprising that Wolfe wants the reader to do\nsome work too.\n\nIf all else fails, you can see if the answers are in THE URTH OF THE\nNEW SUN when it comes out,\n\nDonn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn at utah-cs.arpa\n40 46' 6\"N 111 50' 34\"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn\n------------------------------------------------------------------------" }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Ron Hale-Evans: rwhe at apocalypse.org ... \nCenter for Ludic Synergy: \nKennexions GBG artgame: \nHexagram-8 I Ching Mailing List: \nPositive Revolution FAQ: " } ] } ] }