{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/usenet/60", "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": "usenet", "thread": { "id": 60, "subject": "Questions about Book of the New Sun", "messages": 6, "voices": 6, "first": "2004-09-09T01:46:35+00:00", "last": "2004-09-17T19:05:56+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "j_mckitrick", "address": "j_mckitrick at bigfoot.com" }, "date": "2004-09-09T01:46:35+00:00", "subject": "Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hi all,\n\nI have been working my way through this book and loving it, but I'm\nstarting to get confused. I just started Sword and Citadel.\n\n1. I don't get the vision Severian had on the roof with the witches.\n2. Why does he leave Thrax?\n3. When is all of this stuff going to come together?\n4. How are we to tell that he lies during his narrative? Why would\nhe do so?\n\nThanks. I am loving the book, but it's even tougher to follow than\nHyperion.\n\njonathon" } ] }, { "message_id": "<20040909120112.25562.00000378@mb-m29.aol.com>", "from": { "name": "MPorcius", "address": "mporcius at aol.com" }, "date": "2004-09-09T16:01:12+00:00", "subject": "Re: Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "My advice is to just go with the flow, lots of stuff will be made more clear\nlater on, some other stuff won't. I found reading _Book of the New Sun_ to be\na \"project,\" like reading _In Search of Lost Time_, but like Proust, a project\nthat rewarded my efforts. I have only read _Book of the New Sun_ once, but I\nsuspect it is very profitable to reread it, again like Proust, several volumes\nof which I enjoyed more the second time around. And don't be afraid to consult\nthe Oxford English Dictionary or google or something for those archaic words; I\nfound this helpful at times." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Fish! (mmm Thecla)", "address": "tastyfish at fugu.com" }, "date": "2004-09-09T23:26:41+00:00", "subject": "Re: Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "<20040909120112.25562.00000378@mb-m29.aol.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "My advice is to just go with the flow, lots of stuff will be made more clear\nlater on, some other stuff won't. I found reading _Book of the New Sun_ to be\na \"project,\" like reading _In Search of Lost Time_, but like Proust, a project\nthat rewarded my efforts. I have only read _Book of the New Sun_ once, but I\nsuspect it is very profitable to reread it, again like Proust, several volumes\nof which I enjoyed more the second time around. And don't be afraid to consult\nthe Oxford English Dictionary or google or something for those archaic words; I\nfound this helpful at times. " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Make sure you read Urth of the New Sun when you've finished with the \nBotNS series." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Mike Ward", "address": "m at d.w" }, "date": "2004-09-11T14:48:14+00:00", "subject": "Re: Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "My advice is to just go with the flow, lots of stuff will be made\nmore clear later on, some other stuff won't. I found reading _Book\nof the New Sun_ to be a \"project,\" like reading _In Search of Lost\nTime_, but like Proust, a project that rewarded my efforts. I have\nonly read _Book of the New Sun_ once, but I suspect it is very\nprofitable to reread it, again like Proust, several volumes of which\nI enjoyed more the second time around. And don't be afraid to\nconsult the Oxford English Dictionary or google or something for\nthose archaic words; I found this helpful at times. " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Make sure you read Urth of the New Sun when you've finished with the \nBotNS series." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Is it really neccessary. I didn't think it was nearly as good and found it \nunneccessary. And since I've read it I've almost forgot everything that \nhappened in it even though I remember _The Book of the New Sun_ fine.\n\nMike" } ] }, { "message_id": "<2I9qgXEr+ySBFA5u@from.is.invalid>", "from": { "name": "GSV Three Minds in a Can", "address": "gsv at quik.clara.co.uk" }, "date": "2004-09-17T18:40:43+00:00", "subject": "Re: Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From what I've heard, it really explains a LOT of what happened. I'm\nwaiting for mine to arrive in the mail. Didn't you find you were left\nwith a lot of questions at the end of BOTNS?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Yeah like\n\n\"Why did I bother to read all the volumes\" and\n\n\"How come Wolfe's dictionary has got more words in than mine, I'm using \nthe Shorter Oxford already, fer crisakes\" and\n\n\"What was this doing in the Science Fiction section\"...\n\n8>." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "GSV Three Minds in a Can\nOutgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "David Bilek", "address": "dtbilek at comcast.net" }, "date": "2004-09-17T19:05:56+00:00", "subject": "Re: Questions about Book of the New Sun", "in_reply_to": "<2I9qgXEr+ySBFA5u@from.is.invalid>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "GSV Three Minds in a Can wrote:\n\nFrom what I've heard, it really explains a LOT of what happened. I'm\nwaiting for mine to arrive in the mail. Didn't you find you were left\nwith a lot of questions at the end of BOTNS?\n\nYeah like\n\n\"Why did I bother to read all the volumes\" and" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Because it's perhaps the most seminal work of literary Science Fiction\never written." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "\"How come Wolfe's dictionary has got more words in than mine, I'm using \nthe Shorter Oxford already, fer crisakes\" and" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "He's a bright, literate guy. Use the full Oxford!" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "\"What was this doing in the Science Fiction section\"..." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "It's set in the far future and involves things like spaceships, time\ntravel, and lasers?\n\n-David" } ] } ] }