Gene Wolfe's New Sun stuff

Jonathan A. Kung · 02 Oct 1992, 16:48 · from sf-lovers.1992.mbox

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From: joak at ocf.berkeley.edu (Jonathan A. Kung)
Subject: Gene Wolfe's New Sun stuff
Date: 2 Oct 92 16:48:11 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v17-514-11 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V17 #514
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-17b

I remember a thread from a month or so back where Wolfe's stuff was being
discussed, and various people claimed to know most of what was going on.
Well, I am not one of those people.  If anyone could e-mail me or post on
the following, I will surely die of gratitude.  My brain is under too much
strain as it is.

There may be SPOILERS below.

1.  Who Severian's mother is.  I have a hunch that's she's Dorcas, tortured
    by the Guild for some reason, so they took Severian in.
2.  Who that servant that ran away after passing the warning note in the
    inn by the Sanguinary Fields is.  Is he the one that married Dorcas at
    the end?
3.  That old man Dorcas was mourning at the end of the Book - was that her
    husband?
4.  That business with the aliens from the other universe - in which
    universe does Book take place, and in which ones does Urth take place,
    and how are they related.
5.  The first Claw that Severian got - was it really "magical"?  Or did it
    glow because of previous contact with the past Severian?  Or did it
    glow because Severian wanted it to?
6.  Why I always fell asleep after reading every hundred pages or so.
7.  Is Severian the first Autarch with his kind of memory?  I had at first
    thought that each Autarch had perfect memory, and each one would wait
    until the next person with perfect memory came along, and then groom
    him for the Autarchy.
8.  Book takes place in the VERY far future, right?
9.  Was the Citadel originally a "space ship"?  There were some references
    to "cabins" for the journeyman with "portholes", and Severian once
    says, I think, how wonderful it would be if the tower just blasted off
    into space like it was meant to.
10. What happened during the time between Shadow, I think, and the next
    part, at the Wall, that separated Severian and Jonas from the rest?
11. Did that guy who helped Severian and A-wozname and Dorcas out in the
    lake of the dead (or whatever it was called) die in that episode at the
    end of one of the books with the witches and Apu-Punchau?
12. What the HELL is the deal with Apu-Punchau?  I don't think I can get it
    straight without a bit of help...
13. Typhon - why didn't he remember Severian's face from before and kill
    him when he had the chance the second time (for Typhon) they met?
14. What was the deal with the fights in space on the ship that sailed
    between universes?  I was kind of unclear on this (along with
    everything else I'm asking about).
15. Whose crypt does Severian lie in?  It's from one of his past lives,
    right?
16. Severian dies several times, but is cloned by the Hierogrammates, or
    something, right?
17. Terminus Est was originally the property of that one guard in the past,
    right?

Well, that's all I can think of or remember right now, I'll probably have
more later.  Maybe I'll reread the books.

Was anyone else impressed by the scope of these novels?  It was neat how
you get to see Typhon's mountain in progress after you see the finished
product - the sheer scale is impressive, yet the Citadel dwarfs that
project, and the Wall is even larger than I can really picture being built.

Yeesh, my mind just shorted out, so I guess I should go.

Jon Kung

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