Mystery of Agia

Lee Berman · 20 Jan 2011, 19:38 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:38:45 -0500
Subject: (urth) Mystery of Agia
Message-ID: <SNT123-W12AA7DADF678E0DE5B4ED0CFF90 at phx.gbl>

>Antonio Pedro Marques: But the assassin can, and indeed should, be disguised, and asian 
>people tend to lesser sexual dimorphism. I think Lee's idea here is genuinely good. Of 
>course, that doesn't close the matter of Agia's purpose(s), nor does it preclude your s
>pirit scars interpretation at all. I also think Jeff and Ryan raise good points. The more 
>matters such as these are discussed, the better our understanding of the work.

Agreed on all accounts (except I think Son O' Witz also contributed good points).

The only defense I'll raise for my Agia=assassin theory goes back to Fifth Head of Cerberus.
As Jerry Friedman can testify, there is good evidence to be found that VRT did not replace
Dr. Marsh. 

So why is there no longer any debate on the topic? Because Gene Wolfe resolved his intention
in a couple interviews. His only major mystery revelation I am aware of. Is it a coincidence
he revealed this about his earliest mysterious/cryptic work? I don't think so.

I think Gene Wolfe uses interviews much as he uses his stories. He has said of his mysteries 
that he provides one clue for solution and that's all he thinks is needed. So, what does the
broad single clue of revealing his intention for 5HoC reveal about his general intentions for
his mysteries?

As Marc Aramini says, "Wolfe is hiding a lot, and some of it is just plain weird."

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