Subject: (whorl) Miscellaneous notes, take one

From: Gary Ellwood <gellwood at mindlink.bc.ca>
Date: Sun, 06 Apr 1997 23:27:03 +0000

[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

	A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far better thing I do than George Lucas
has ever done before) someone was asking about the origin of the minor
character name "Feist."  I think in the context of Vironese names the
following definition is preferable:  feist; "a small, snappish dog"
(Webster's New World Dictionary).
	Talon was asking about "THE URTH OF THE NEW SUN.  Severian wrote two
copies of his account. One was placed into a sealed leaden container and
set adrift from Tzadkiel's ship as it plied time and space. Presumedly this
is the copy Wolfe obtained. (I forget the fate of the other copy. Any
takers?)"  To be accurate, Severian only wrote one copy (that we know of)
of TUOTNS.  However, he wrote the first "edition" of The Book of the New
Sun shortly before leaving Urth, then copied it from his perfect memory on
board the ship before casting that copy adrift.  (See the final chapter of
The Citadel of the Autarch for confirmation.)  The first manuscript was
sent to Master Ultan, and is thus presumably underwater, drowned with
Nessus.  (But who knows?  There may well be book collectors avid enough to
walk the Corridors of Time in search of the first Urthly edition....)

**************************************************
This has been another quality e-mail from:
      Gary (gellwood at mindlink.bc.ca)
Please send him chocolate to properly and
completely express your eternal gratitude.
**************************************************

The quote of the week comes from Ray Hyman:  

"One thing about humans is we're experts at finding meaning.  
But we pay a big price.  We also find patterns where there are none."