Subject: (urth) Reading the Soldier books

From: James Wynn <crushtv at hotpop.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:04:24 +0000

Regarding reading the Soldier books, Nutria wrote:
You might want to skim Bulfinch's Mythology before starting in. You've
gotta know a bit, yea more than a bit, about ancient Greek mythology. And
if the series continues, you're going to have to know something about
Zoroastrianism also, I suspect.

Crush refutes:
I gotta respectfully disagree with this. This is no more true than that one
needs to know a lot about Sun mythology and symbolism to enjoy the "New Sun"
or (the "Long Sun"), or to know about world Serpent mythology and classical
references to enjoy the "Long Sun".

When you read these books you will **want** to find out more about the
things you read about there (e.g. Cybele, Spartan culture & history, etc.).
But, one might know a decent bit generally about Greek mythology,
literature, and history and still find he has plenty to learn while reading
"Mist" and "Arete."

For reading the Soldier books, I recommend doing what one would do for
Wolfe's other works:
1. Read the books
2. Look up the obvious blanks the stories imply to you (or read Graves'
"Complete Myths" from start to finish because this was an important source
for this work)
3. Reread the books
-- Crush

--

---

From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 19:13:29 +0000

James,
         I gotta respectfully defer to your much better advice.

Respectfully,

Nutria

--

---

From: James Wynn <crushtv at hotpop.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:18:55 +0000

Crush is responding to his own posts now:
For step 2, of course Herodotus' History is also invaluable reading and "The
Golden Ass."

-- Crush

--

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 17:10:50 +0000

> references to enjoy the "Long Sun".

I agree that you probably don't need to know a lot about Greek Myth to
appreciate the books, but I think you'll find the plot *much* easier to
follow if read up a little on the history of the Persian and early
Peloponnesian wars (especially focusing on the role of Sparta and their
relationship with their slaves). I found the one of the major events of
Arete totally incomprehensible until someone clued me in to the historical
event it is based on.

Here's a few good links:

http://www.atrium-media.com/bibliotheca/greekhistory/thermopylae.html
http://joseph_berrigan.tripod.com/ancientbabylon/id28.html
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/prm/blevilempired.htm

-Rostrum

--

---

From: James Wynn <crushtv at hotpop.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 20:03:46 +0000

Rostrum said:
I found the one of the major events of
Arete totally incomprehensible until someone clued me in to the historical
event it is based on.

Crush urges:
The links were nice. Thanks. But as for the Arete event in question, tell
us! Tell us!

-- Crush

--

---

From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 21:25:27 +0000

>The links were nice. Thanks. But as for the Arete event in question, tell

I, Nutria, will tell you. It's the scene at the end of the book, which 
hints that the helots were massacred by their Spartan owners, immediately 
after the Spartans freed them for helping fight in the battle. Which they 
were. But it's far from clear in the book what is going on. There are even 
missing pages!

Bet I'm right. Anyway, that's the one that stumped me the most.

Nutria

--

---

From: Josh Geller <dclxvi at dclxvi.best.vwh.net>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 10:08:59 +0000

Huh.

It must be confusing to read this stuff without first knowing Herodotos
etc.

I had never thought of that.

J.

___

--

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 01:11:33 +0000

> were. But it's far from clear in the book what is going on. There are even

Nutria is right, except the scene in question is in the middle of Arete,
at the end of the Part 1.

Supposedly true history: Spartan slaves were forbidden from touching
weapons under penalty of death, but the Spartans armed them for the war
with the Persians.  After the war, to address this contradiction, the
Spartans pretended they were going to free said slaves, but instead killed
them all.

--