TWK: Tower of Glas

David Duffy · 06 Sep 2006, 01:56 · from 2006-September.txt.gz

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From: David.Duffy at qimr.edu.au (David Duffy)
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 11:56:03 +1000 (EST)
Subject: (urth) TWK: Tower of Glas
In-Reply-To: <44fb53d10609051411q3a75f3b4q7b81bd4b09c4ddf3 at mail.gmail.com>
References: <44fb53d10609051411q3a75f3b4q7b81bd4b09c4ddf3 at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0609061138480.12778 at orpheus.qimr.edu.au>

On Tue, 5 Sep 2006, Matthew Keeley wrote:

> In The Wizard Knight, Wolfe seems to want us to identify the Tower of Glas
> with the Tower of Babel, but it seems to me that the tower in question also
> resembles Dante's Purgatory in many ways. I found this rather perplexing, as
> while the Tower of Babel is clearly a symbol of evil (rebellion against God,
> hubris, etc.), Purgatory is something manifestly good and holy.
> ...
> Any thoughts on what Wolfe is trying to do here? It seems rather odd to so
> mix Purgatory and Babel; the Tower of Glas seems a rather ambiguous symbol

Hi, welcome to the list! (though I should add I am more a regular reader
than participant).  I like the comparison you make (list snipped).

I would have thought "as above, so below", but with the proviso that the
deeper you go, the less perfect the resemblance, and the more likely
things are to go wrong -- the Island of Glas is less than paradisical,
even though it may be glamorous.  Movement upwards in the worlds must be
lawful I think -- that is arranged by a higherup for one who is worthy or
made worthy by the love of those above.  In that sense the Tower is
hubristic.  Wolfe is big on the conflation of Faery with the land of the
dead, so a connection forcing its way up like that doesn't sound
propitious to me.

The Tower of Glas also appears in _Castleview_, by the way.

David Duffy.

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