Subject: (urth) Wolfe Forum open and ready for members

From: aaron <aaronsingleton at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:23:13 +0000

Since John Klima's Wolfe forum seems to be done for, I decided to revamp my
own Wolfe board and try it one more time.  Anyone who was a member of the
Solar Cycle Book Club (as I was) is welcome as is everyone else who wishes
to visit.  The address is http://usefulphrases.yuku.com/

I hope we can make this one work for a long time to come.

-- 
Aaron Singleton
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From: David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net>
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:44:18 +0000

Another reason for the existence of the Wall occurred to me. (Never mind 
that the fact that the Ascian war used to be farther south is itself 
sufficient reason, since overwhelming aerial and space attacks were 
always bound to be unlikely anywhere, and the Citadel has long-range 
guns.) This one is thematic. It's not a huge deal, but it should be 
noted for what it's worth.

I have a hunch that the rough circularity of the Wall and Severian's 
passing through it are, if not symbolic, at least a formal 
organizational scheme that points to the "true history" laid out in the 
events of UotNS.

That is, it is significant that Shadow narrates a radial physical path 
from a center (not necessarily the physical center) straight to a point 
on the edge, ignoring absolutely everything that may lie to either side. 
It ends with a passage across a boundary. Severian describes Shadow as a 
road from gate to gate (necropolis to Wall), and to a new road. This 
theme continues:

Claw is described as tracing a line from gateway to gateway---from 
Saltus to the stone town, which was a different kind of gate, a gate to 
the past and other dimensions.

Sword is described as tracing a line from fortress to fortress ---from 
Thrax to Diuturna. A fortress may be a kind of gate if it guards a pass 
or road. A closed gate may need forcing.

Citadel is described as completing a line from gate to gate---from 
necropolis to sky. But of course it starts in the North at the frontier 
and ends back at the Citadel, which, again, is a center in more than one 
way. So it repeats and reverses the journey from center to periphery, as 
well as containing smaller circles; the Citadel itself is a circle, with 
a breach in it.

To some degree, these convenient divisions are obvious and superficial. 
There are plenty of other divisions in Severian's life, as for example 
when he moves from body to body, or when he betrays. But some of these 
never become plain until UotNS, and therefore I suspect that this 
repeated geometric structure, however simple, is part of Wolfe's "open 
conspiracy" of clues.

Much as a center suggests a periphery---the simplest form being a 
circle---a circle suggests a center as well as other circles. One circle 
is Nessus; another is the Commonwealth, and another is Urth. There other 
worlds in their orbits. Another is the universe, and there are other 
universes and universal "years," as has been discussed thoroughly on 
this forum. Severian's path is suspected to be circular in time, and we 
know he moves through past and future. If you think as I do that the 
black worm and the New Sun are two sides of the same phenomenon (from a 
supradimensional perspective), then this supports that idea.

Yesod is another center---or another circle suggesting yet another 
center. The House Absolute is another kind of center that suggests 
another kind of circle---a center hidden in plain sight. Are there 
circles hidden in plain sight? Other centers?