{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/937",
    "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": 937,
    "subject": "labyrinths",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1998-07-08T08:54:22+00:00",
    "last": "1998-07-08T08:54:22+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0016-0013@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Paul C Duggan",
        "address": "pduggan at world.std.com"
      },
      "date": "1998-07-08T08:54:22+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) labyrinths",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 3,
          "text": "Mazes are puzzles.  Something to be solved with the intellect.  The\nChristian life is not something to be \"solved.\"  It's not about the\nintellect but about moral character and having the humility to accept\ngrace.  I think the equation of mazes with tricky stories fits much\nbetter. "
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "On Tue, 7 Jul 1998, Jim Jordan answered:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "       Well, it could be both, and probably is. Recall how Wolfe is\n\"God\" in \"The Last Thrilling Wonder Story.\" And while I cannot recall any other\ntitles, I'm pretty sure that the Author // God motif is found in other\nWolfe stories as well. Thus, I'd suggest that \"A Solar Labyrinth\" can be\ninterpreted either way. \n\tBut consider: If Severian is walking a maze, he is certainly going through\nmaturation and conversion in his life. If \"Solar Lab\" is to be tied to the\nSeverian Cycle, then it IS about the course of life, in one way."
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "I don't think \"A Solar Labyrinth\" is about the Severian Cycle, I think\nit's about *reading* the Severian Cycle.  It's about figuring out a\npuzzle.  But I don't think \"the course of life\" is very much like figuring\nout puzzles. "
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Labyrinths *are* a symbol for the world-order in ancient iconography. I\nhave come across older writers using the term to refer to the twists and\nturns of life.\n\nsee http://www.eskimo.com/~binet/fengshui/labyrinth.html\nand http://www.kimstringfellow.com/labyrinth.html\nfor just two examples.\n\nHas anyone tried to make any connection between ASL (which to me means\n\"Advanced Squad Leader\" but that's neither here nor there) and the story\nabout the ship that navigates the chain of islands in the Brown Book?\n\nMr. Sarcos"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}