Typhon's nature

Jerry Friedman · 13 Oct 2011, 04:31 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: jerry_friedman at yahoo.com (Jerry Friedman)
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:31:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) Typhon's nature
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W2360D215A1FC534EBD680DCFE30 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W2360D215A1FC534EBD680DCFE30 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <1318480285.31840.YahooMailNeo at web114701.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

> From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>

>> David Stockhoff: I agree that various technologies are deliberately blurred, 
> as is 
>> (famously) the line between technology and magic.

An interesting exercise for some might be to consider all the mind control and telepathy in the Sun books.? There's a lot, from the revolutionary, shown as purely technological, to Decuman's spell, which Severian speculates on in pure black-magic terms, with all kinds of others, often not explained at all.? They could then decides which examples throw light on which others.

>> This seems to be both a stylistic approach and a philosophy.
> 
> Yes. I think this cuts to the crux of the debate. For some readers, Wolfe's 
> work seems
> to be a collection of rippingly good yarns. Any perception of an overarching 
> philosophy 
> and use of sub-text to convey it is seen as a distraction and diminishing of the 
> story.
> These different approaches create a difficult platform for discussion between 
> parties.
...

As do caricatures such as the one above.? I'll leave the caricature of the opposite approach as an exercise.

Jerry Friedman

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