# Gene Wolfe - two carpenters *The Usenet list — 4 messages, 4 voices, 26 Apr 2007* > 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. --- ### (unknown) *26 Apr 2007, 06:02* by John Farrell First Things http://www.firstthings.com April 2007 ..Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" started out as a long novella and rapidly grew to a four-volume science-fiction tour de force. The hero, Severian, is a lictor--a professional torturer--whose entire life has been dedicated to the infliction of agony. "It has been remarked thousands of times," Wolfe once said, "that Christ died under torture. Many of us have read so often that he was 'a humble carpenter' that we feel a little surge of nausea on seeing the words yet again. But no one ever seems to notice that the instruments of torture were wood, nails, and a hammer; that the man who built the cross was undoubtedly a carpenter too; that the man who hammered in the nails was as much a carpenter as a soldier, as much a carpenter as a torturer. Very few seem even to have noticed that although Christ was a 'humble carpenter,' the only object we are specifically told he made was not a table or a chair, but a whip."... ========== John 2:15 http://snipurl.com/1hzg9 --- ### jcon *26 Apr 2007, 12:41 · in reply to (unknown)* > On Apr 26, 1:02 am, Jacket Dust Header@[127.1]> wrote: > by John Farrell > First Thingshttp://www.firstthings.com > April 2007 > > ..Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" started out as a long novella > and rapidly grew to a four-volume science-fiction tour de force. The > hero, Severian, is a lictor--a professional torturer--whose entire life > has been dedicated to the infliction of agony. "It has been remarked > thousands of times," Wolfe once said, "that Christ died under torture. > Many of us have read so often that he was 'a humble carpenter' that we > feel a little surge of nausea on seeing the words yet again. But no one > ever seems to notice that the instruments of torture were wood, nails, > and a hammer; that the man who built the cross was undoubtedly a > carpenter too; that the man who hammered in the nails was as much a > carpenter as a soldier, as much a carpenter as a torturer. Very few > seem even to have noticed that although Christ was a 'humble > carpenter,' the only object we are specifically told he made was not a > table or a chair, but a whip."... > ========== > John 2:15http://snipurl.com/1hzg9 There's another book that has a scene where Jesus is working in his shop on something for "an important client". At the end of the scene a couple of Roman soldiers how up and pick up (of course) their brand new cross. It says something like "They paid well and he needed the work". Can't remember another thing about the book, except that I read it a long time ago. Any ideas? The twist has probably been used more than once. -jc --- ### Christopher J. Henrich *26 Apr 2007, 16:09 · in reply to jcon* > On Apr 26, 1:02 am, Jacket Dust Header@[127.1]> wrote: >> by John Farrell >> First Thingshttp://www.firstthings.com >> April 2007 >> >> ..Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" started out as a long novella >> and rapidly grew to a four-volume science-fiction tour de force. The >> hero, Severian, is a lictor--a professional torturer--whose entire life >> has been dedicated to the infliction of agony. "It has been remarked >> thousands of times," Wolfe once said, "that Christ died under torture. >> Many of us have read so often that he was 'a humble carpenter' that we >> feel a little surge of nausea on seeing the words yet again. But no one >> ever seems to notice that the instruments of torture were wood, nails, >> and a hammer; that the man who built the cross was undoubtedly a >> carpenter too; that the man who hammered in the nails was as much a >> carpenter as a soldier, as much a carpenter as a torturer. Very few >> seem even to have noticed that although Christ was a 'humble >> carpenter,' the only object we are specifically told he made was not a >> table or a chair, but a whip."... >> ========== >> John 2:15http://snipurl.com/1hzg9 > There's another book that has > a scene where Jesus is working in his shop on something > for "an important client". At the end of the scene > a couple of Roman soldiers how up and pick up > (of course) their brand new cross. It says > something like "They paid well and he > needed the work". > > Can't remember another thing about the book, > except that I read it a long time ago. Any > ideas? The twist has probably been > used more than once. Could be /The/ /Last/ /Temptation/ /of/ /Christ/, by Nikos Kazantzakis. --- ### Bran MacEachaidh *30 Apr 2007, 04:48 · in reply to jcon* air an latha 26/04/2007 10:41 PM, sgr�obh jcon: > There's another book that has > a scene where Jesus is working in his shop on something > for "an important client". At the end of the scene > a couple of Roman soldiers how up and pick up > (of course) their brand new cross. It says > something like "They paid well and he > needed the work". > > Can't remember another thing about the book, > except that I read it a long time ago. Any > ideas? The twist has probably been > used more than once. > > -jc Well, if you believe Mel Gibson, Jesus invented dining-room furniture ... ---