Key to the Universe

Lee Berman · 17 Dec 2010, 21:42 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:42:52 -0500
Subject: (urth) Key to the Universe
Message-ID: <SNT123-W351451CD092F4CE8EC0B18CF160 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff- The first temples were built of materials that did not last---like wood.

Shazam! This is part of the anthropological lesson being taught to David and #5 by Mr. Million 
in the first few pages of the first Wolfe story (novella) I ever read. That's when I knew he 
would become one of my favorite authors.

>James Wynn- I'm probably just old-fashioned --a meat and potatoes SF guy-- but I 
>find it really unappealing that Neil Armstrong is not in Severian's 
>chronological past. Part of the fun of that scene for me is the way the 
>perception of symbols change due to Time.

Yep, I was aware of which side of this debate you find yourself on, James. Myself, I am interested
in the way symbols change culture to culture (which is a function of both geography and time).
So, Urth being a different world than Earth has some appeal to me in that regard. (likewise I 
care about societal differences like "vines" and "lianas", heh).

But I don't think you should change your position. It isn't centrally important, IMHO. And if Wolfe 
reading ever stops being fun, we might as well all pack it in and quit.

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