urth Digest, Vol 23, Issue 10
The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 20 Jul 2006
https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4665

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Jonathan Laidlow — 20 Jul 2006, 08:19

> BSharp wrote:
> I don't want to try to answer questions on the cabala. I never knew a great 
> deal about it and I >have forgotten most of what I knew. I have the great 
> disadvantage of not believing in it and so I >can't get so caught up in it 
> as cabalist really do. To me it was someplace that I could steal ideas >and 
> names from.

> I noticed this quote a while back and have, thererfore, avoided looking too 
> deeply into Kabbalah concepts to explain BotNS and am a bit skeptical 
> regarding those who do.  There is another, non-cosmological, Kabbalistic 
> theme Wolfe borrows which I haven't seen mentioned by any critical review, 
> that being the Lilith myth.  I think I hinted at that a month or two ago but 
> I'm not sure. I'll try to discuss it if I can gel my ideas and if there is 
> any interest.

If there's one thing I've learnt from reading Gene Wolfe it is to never trust the author or anything he says....

But I think GW is being disingenuous here because he borrowed the Kabbalah much as other writers might borrow from Tolkien - not as something he believes in, but something that worked well in the story.

J

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