_Urth of the New Sun_ querySF-Lovers

I was recently rereading Wolfe's Urth of the New Sun, and for some reason the names he uses for the higher and lower universes in the story, Yesod and Briah, seem familiar. My first thought was that they sounded vaguely Cabbalistic, but I don't have research material to hand. Can anyone enlighten me ? Emmet

eaobrien at ebi.ac.uk (Emmet O'Brien) writes:

So I've been told. He also apparently has the names inverted for some reason of his own. (i.e., higher universe: lower name and vice versa). Dr. Mark Andersen Department of Fishery and Wildlife Sciences New Mexico State University

eaobrien at ebi.ac.uk (Emmet O'Brien) writes:

Yesod at least is indeed, uh, (ducking a surefire spelling error) what you said. My limited knowledge of the sefirah is from Umberto Eco's FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM, which explains all ten of them; I suggest you read it a) because it answers your question and b) because it is a work of magnificence comparable to THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. Mind you, it's not SF. Jon

Changing the topic somewhat (well, okay, completely): Reading "Castle of the Otter" for the first time, a few weeks back, I discovered Mr. Wolfe's unfortunate taste for name puns. ("Carrol of another kind", crimony....) I got to wondering if he buried any name puns in "New Sun", and then it hit me: Chapter One of "Shadow of the Torturer" revolves around GRAVE ROBBERS. Is my sick mind inventing a joke that Wolfe really didn't intend to put in there? It's been bothering me for some reason. And I haven't been helped by the fact that "Long Sun" features a "Dr. Crane" .... What do you think?

The opening of Shadow of the Torturer, and the narrative stance which the appendices suggest refer, I think, to ROBERT GRAVES'S I, Claudius. Was that what you were referring to in suggesting the existence of a pun? Daniel