{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4604", "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": 4604, "subject": "Quotable Wolfe", "messages": 7, "voices": 6, "first": "2006-05-19T20:08:40+00:00", "last": "2006-06-05T22:34:02+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Kieran Mullen", "address": "kieran at ou.edu" }, "date": "2006-05-19T20:08:40+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " One thing I love about Wolfe is his prose. His choice of words, \ntheir cadence, their compact power. OTOH, I can't think of many quotes \noff the top of my head. I am not sure Wolfe *is* quotable. It's more \nthe tapestry than the thread.\n\n Do people have:\n\n Favorite Severian quotes?\n\n Favorite Wolfe quotes?\n\nI do have some favorite quotes, but they're from short stories. I'll \nhave to get my copy of \"Endangered Species\" instead of trying to cobble \nthem from memory.\n\nKieran" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "maru dubshinki", "address": "marudubshinki at gmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-20T03:27:49+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 5/19/06, Kieran Mullen wrote:\n\n One thing I love about Wolfe is his prose. His choice of words,\ntheir cadence, their compact power. OTOH, I can't think of many quotes\noff the top of my head. I am not sure Wolfe *is* quotable. It's more\nthe tapestry than the thread.\n\n Do people have:\n\n Favorite Severian quotes?\n\n Favorite Wolfe quotes?\n\nI do have some favorite quotes, but they're from short stories. I'll\nhave to get my copy of \"Endangered Species\" instead of trying to cobble\nthem from memory.\n\nKieran" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Well, I always was struck by one quote from Shadow of the Torturer: as\na matter of fact, I first came to Wolfe when I was a kid, and I was\ncasually browsing the first chapters of this odd looking book, and I\nread this:\n\n\"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us;\nwe are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When\nsoldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with\nthe profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their\nacceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life--they\nare soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the\nmanagement of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound\nmistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced\nby them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased\nand superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith\nin the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things\nact of themselves or not at all.\"\nThe Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe.\n\n(Thanks to Lupine Nuncio\n(http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze2tmhh/wolfeblog.html) for providing a\ntranscription!)\n\n~maru" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "b sharp", "address": "bsharporflat at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-20T03:55:17+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I think examples of Wolfian humor are especially effective because they are \nso rare and widely spaced and inevitably droll. 5th Head is so damned dark \nand foreboding I think there may be no examples. BotNS has a few such as:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Jolenta: \"there's fruit if you want it. The doctor had me save some last \nnight so we'd have >something for breakfast\"\nSeverian: \"Yes, I'd like some fruit. That's very kind of you\"\nJolenta: \"I won't get it for you, you'll have to fetch it yourself. It's \nthere behind that stand of >armor\" \"I'd like something too. Those grapes I \nthink\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Autarch: \"A little adultery never hurt any man. Unless of course it was \nhis wife's\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Nod: \"What news is there?\"\nSecond Demon: \"All you want sieur.\" \"We've searched the garden so often \nthat if only we'd been carrying dung instead of spears, the daisies'd be as \nbig as umbrellas. Ducks' clothes is down and hopes is up- so's the \nturnips. Tomorrow should be fair, warm and bright.....(new sun)\"" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The Butcher: \"I have seen dead wolves\"\nShe-Wolf: \"Yes, and eaten their flesh, though it were too foul for the \nflies, I dare say. It may be you shall eat mine, if a falling tree kill \nme.\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Dr. Talos: \" You remember to be on your good behavior now. They don't like \nto be called >cacogens, you know. Address them as whatever it is they say \ntheir names are this time, and >don't refer to slime.\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Baldanders: \"These things only live a score of years, like dogs\"" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "My favorite is toward the end after four books of continual explaining that \n\"fuligin is the color which is...\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Severian: \" Soon I must don robes of argent, the color that is more pure \nthan white. Never mind\"" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "-bsharp" } ] }, { "message_id": "<2124d6b10605200004h54c8823bo7edba9310f00d3dd@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "pthwndxrclzp", "address": "aquastor at gmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-20T07:04:28+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This passage always brings a big smile to my face:\n\n\"It is a gambling proposition,\" Dr. Talos explained. \"And I confess to\nloving them. The money in the hat is a sure thing--by the close of the first\nact I can predict to an orichalk how much it will be. But the dropsies! They\nmay be no more than two apples and a turnip, or as much as the imagination\ncan encompass. We have found a baby pig. Delicious, so Baldanders told me\nwhen he ate it. We have found a baby baby. We have found a gold-headed\nstick, and I retain it...\"" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 5/19/06, b sharp wrote:\n\nI think examples of Wolfian humor are especially effective because they\nare\nso rare and widely spaced and inevitably droll. 5th Head is so damned\ndark\nand foreboding I think there may be no examples. BotNS has a few such as:" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Bob Miller", "address": "bob_bageera at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2006-05-20T10:30:03+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Did I miss it? The one, and rare, to me is that scene in BOTNS where \nSeverian found the bush of \"Claws\". \"...and I cast away my boots that I \nmight not walk shod on sacred ground\"\n\nthe \"things\" that stick to my memory of Wolfe's are those that have had a \nbuildup. The scene in THE WIZARD where Idnn tells Sirable that the wives of \nthe Angrborn are her subjects and so she Will take care of them. And then I \nwished I were not mounted, that I might kneel to her.\n\nThank you all for forcing me to codify my thoughts on this.\nBob\n\n\n\n\nFrom: \"maru dubshinki\" \nReply-To: The Urth Mailing List \nTo: \"The Urth Mailing List\" \nSubject: Re: (urth) Quotable Wolfe\nDate: Fri, 19 May 2006 23:27:49 -0400" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 5/19/06, Kieran Mullen wrote:\n\n One thing I love about Wolfe is his prose. His choice of words,\ntheir cadence, their compact power. OTOH, I can't think of many quotes\noff the top of my head. I am not sure Wolfe *is* quotable. It's more\nthe tapestry than the thread.\n\n Do people have:\n\n Favorite Severian quotes?\n\n Favorite Wolfe quotes?\n\nI do have some favorite quotes, but they're from short stories. I'll\nhave to get my copy of \"Endangered Species\" instead of trying to cobble\nthem from memory.\n\nKieran" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Well, I always was struck by one quote from Shadow of the Torturer: as\na matter of fact, I first came to Wolfe when I was a kid, and I was\ncasually browsing the first chapters of this odd looking book, and I\nread this:\n\n\"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us;\nwe are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When\nsoldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with\nthe profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their\nacceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life--they\nare soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the\nmanagement of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound\nmistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced\nby them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased\nand superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith\nin the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things\nact of themselves or not at all.\"\nThe Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe.\n\n(Thanks to Lupine Nuncio\n(http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze2tmhh/wolfeblog.html) for providing a\ntranscription!)\n\n~maru" } ] }, { "message_id": "<4470D1A8.6010009@io.com>", "from": { "name": "Jeff Wilson", "address": "jwilson at io.com" }, "date": "2006-05-21T20:46:32+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "<2124d6b10605200004h54c8823bo7edba9310f00d3dd@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "pthwndxrclzp wrote:\nThis passage always brings a big smile to my face:\n\n\"It is a gambling proposition,\" Dr. Talos explained. \"And I confess to \nloving them. The money in the hat is a sure thing--by the close of the \nfirst act I can predict to an orichalk how much it will be. But the \ndropsies! They may be no more than two apples and a turnip, or as much \nas the imagination can encompass. We have found a baby pig. Delicious, \nso Baldanders told me when he ate it. We have found a baby baby. We have \nfound a gold-headed stick, and I retain it...\"" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This sounds more likely to be the source of the boy in the tower than \nSeverian's loins." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com\n< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >" } ] }, { "message_id": "<938f9d683bfbf7a59d30b27249222266@ou.edu>", "from": { "name": "Kieran Mullen", "address": "kieran at ou.edu" }, "date": "2006-06-05T22:34:02+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Quotable Wolfe", "in_reply_to": "<4470D1A8.6010009@io.com>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I promised to enter a few of my favorite Wolfe quotes. The sources \nare obvious, so I'll omit them :-)\n\n \"I destroyed the Dream-Master as He has been sacrificed so often, \ndevouring His white, wheaten flesh that we might all possess life \nwithout end.\n Dear people, dream on.\"\n\n \"And so I have proceeded, step by laborous (delightful) step, \nchapter by chapter, until soon, perhaps this very year, surely before \nthe coronation, I will begin the preface.\"\n\n\nKieran Mullen" } ] } ] }