Subject: (urth) Short Story 27: Thou Spark of Blood

From: Robert Pirkola <rpirkola at hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 19:24:36 +0000

Marc Aramini wrote: ?"I do have a desire to clear up the oft said but hard for me to verify idea that the quote describing Mars is actually from Macbeth."?

Joan Gordon’s book Gene Wolfe, states on pg. 106 in synopsis of this story that it has allusions to Macbeth. This was repeated on the WolfeWiki entry. It does not say explicitly that the quoted lines were Shakespeare's, and it is certain the lines are not in Macbeth. It is possible that Gene Wolfe made these lines up himself. “Was he writing poetry at this time in his career (1970)? ?Has anyone checked his poetry collection, For Rosemary”

Also, someone had mentioned that Wolfe didn't think much of the story and said as much during an interview with Robert Frazier. ?The comment can be found on pg. 46 of?Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing, Writers on Wolfe, edited by Peter Wright.