Hello, I'm a Newb

Nicholas Jost · 30 Jun 2010, 21:28 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: nickjost at yahoo.com (Nicholas Jost)
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:28:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) Hello, I'm a Newb
In-Reply-To: <mailman.56895.1277927766.5093.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.56895.1277927766.5093.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <999655.47117.qm at web37906.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Since Gene Wolfe was mentioned in an article appearing in First Things recently 
and was recommended through a friend I decided to pick up some of his books.  I 
read "An Evil Guest" first, and once I realized I had missed pretty much the 
whole book, I picked up the New Sun series (including the fifth book) and 
promised I would pay more attention.  I have read some of the archive and the 
notes on the Gene Wolfe Wiki (which I _think_ is maintained by one of you 
folks?).  

I am now going to add my entirely wild musings to the mix.

1.) Is Severian Albion?  He becomes the "Storm God" in the end and the servitors 
of Albion also "serve" him especially when he is saved.
2.) Is he the same Storm God as is in an "Evil Guest"?  If they both exist on 
the same timeline then "An Evil Guest" would be well within the period in which 
the new sun is in transit (I'm assuming Apu is pre-colonial South American).
3.) Has anyone else had difficulty explaining the plot to his aged grandmother 
and consciously skipped over the Dorcas character?
4.) Is Severian a proto(/post)-Christian (not -like) figure in a Mormon 
universe?  That is it seems to have an endless hierarchy of gods.  The concept 
of an "uncreate" blows this theory but the robots seem to have an endless 
hierarchy topped (roughly) by a race.  Am I missing something?

Nicholas Jost

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