SPOILERS Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" annotation, Part I

Geoff Alex Cohen · 22 Aug 1995, 04:40 · from sf-lovers.1995.mbox

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From: gac at cs.duke.edu (Geoff Alex Cohen)
Subject: *SPOILERS* Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" annotation, Part I
Date: 22 Aug 1995 04:40:51 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v20-288-7 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V20 #288
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-20b

This is the first of probably many postings of an attempt to annotate Gene
Wolfe's magnum opus, "The Book of the New Sun."  Needless to say, this
contains many major spoilers.  You shouldn't read this until you've read
the series three times.

Your help and submissions will be very appreciated.  I will archive
these in my web site, http://www.cs.duke.edu/~gac/wolfe.html.

*SPOILERS*

The Book of the New Sun Annotiation Initiative (BONSAI)
_The Shadow of the Torturer_, Chapter I

Compiled by Geoff Cohen, gac at cs.duke.edu
Version 1.0

Epigraph:  "A thousand ages in your sight..."
   Part of the poem "Psalm XC" by Isaac Watts (1674-1748) [Otter]

Chapter I:  Resurrection and Death
   The title reverses the usual order of things.

"We are the volunteers... we come to protect our own dead."
   The intruders who are about to appear will steal the bodies of the dead
   to ingest them and absorb their knowledge.  See _Claw_, Chapter XI.

"I... collided full tilt with a man in a black coat."
   This is Hildegrin the Badger.  He is properly introduced in Chapter
   XXIII.

"A woman said, 'Open the lamp.'"
   This is Thea, Thecla's sister, who is first named in _Shadow_, Chapter
   VII, and Severian meets in _Claw_, Chapter X.

"...I have backed into the throne."
   Severian becomes Autarch.

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