Subject: (urth) Soldier's accuracy

From: Alice Turner <al at interport.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 23:50:36 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

An answer to Rostrum's classicist friend (for sake of argument) is that we
don't know what language Latro is writing in. If you accept the fact that
he can read and write at all, he could be doing so in any local dialect.
All we know is that his name is Lucius---perhaps that name is not
acceptable for the period, but perhaps that it could be an acceptable
"translation" from period dialect.

You know, if he goes on with it, I hope Wolfe does stay within a modicum of
discipline. I don't want Latro sailing off to the New World to smoke the
Pipe of Peace with Cutthroat's pals. I'd much rather he stayed within the
incredibly rich Mediterranean world and had some more interaction with
historical figures.

-alga-

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 10:40:46 +0000

> "translation" from period dialect.

Doesn't the introduction to Soldier of the Mist say that the books are
translated from scrolls found in an urn that were written in Latin except
using Greek letters?

I wonder if Wolfe wrote the ending of Soldier of Arete after deciding no
more Soldier books were wanted, or if he had an idea in mind for
"discovering" more of Latro's journals.

-Rostrum