Mysteries

Lee Berman · 22 Oct 2011, 15:10 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 11:10:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) Mysteries
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1156E470777DCABD540FE1CFE90 at phx.gbl>

>Perhaps that Weer is dead?

>Marc Aramini:: Every body agrees on that because Wolfe said it in 

>early interviews.  Otherwise, we would be arguing about that, too.

Heh. Yes, exactly! Just as there was great argument over whether Dr.

Marsch was replaced by V.R.T. until it was pointed out that WOlfe

explicitly says he was in an interview (that episode actually prompted

one or two long time contributors to drop out of the conversation).

There is a small minority I've seen who debate whether Dorcas is 

Severian's grandmother. And a somewhat larger minority who question

whether Catherine is Severian's mother.

I don't think Antonio's quest for more concrete, universally accepted

conclusion is likely to be fruitful. If they were all like that we

wouldn't still be here discussing them.

Moreover, as Marc notes, the only real way to achieve such consensus seems 

to be a Wolfe quote about his work. And he doesn't seem inclined to make

more of those. He has said (after an interviewer's prompt) that he might

hope his work will continue to be read and discussed 300 years after his

death. It seems likely that he is aware that his silence is likely to 

assist in this goal. (though I personally disagree. Mystery is one of the

compelling aspects of Wolfe's work but not at all the only one)

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