Urth syllabus

William H. Ansley · 26 Apr 1998, 22:52 · from urth-v0009.mbox · original

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From: "William H. Ansley" <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Urth syllabus
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 1998 22:52:27
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[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other work=
s]

I have just finished rereading PEACE for the fifth or sixth time. I think
it will always be my favorite Wolfe novel; perhaps only because it was the
first of his I read. I suggest that PEACE be made part of the Urth
syllabus. It is more accessible than TBotNS, because of its
semi-autobiographical nature it provides something of an insight into Wolfe
himself and it seems to prefigure so many of the ideas that occur in TBotNS
(as well as many of Wolfe's other works) even if only in embryonic form.

For example, the following two passages are (to me at least) very evocative
of TBotNS.

"...that this planet of America, turning round upon itself, stands only at
the outside, only at the periphery, only at the edges, of an infinite
galaxy, dizzily circling. And the stars that seem to ride our winds cause
them. Sometimes I think to see huge faces bending between those stars to
look through my two windows, faces golden and tenuous, touched with pity
and wonder..."

PEACE, p. 7, paragraph 2. Orb edition

"... men of stone stalking through the long grass like statues walking,
like telamones on their way to assist Atlas, dead men become their own
grave markers..."

PEACE, p. 156, paragraph 3. Orb edition

By the way, I just bought the Orb large format paperback edition of PEACE
because I can't find my old mass-market paperback copy. I read my old copy
many times, perhaps even more than I claim above. And I am certain that
there are some changes in the text between what I recall from my old copy
and the Orb edition. These are very minor changes that may well be typo
corrections, if they are real. Does anyone one know if the Orb edition was
edited?

William Ansley

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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