Urth Net
Gate of Nessus and UL
5 quoted lines · 1–2 deep
alga wrote:
Wrote Nigel:
As to what happens to Severian at and immediately after his passage through the gate of Nessus, well, you do gradually get bits and pieces of the story, a detail here and there throughout the length of TCotC. I'm rereading the whole thing very slowly as part of the research for my paper for the symposium at the end of August. Will you be there?
Nigel, after the symposium will you post your paper? Or at least email it to interested people like me, and I bet quite a few others?
-alga
Seconded.
Nigel Price wrote (back on June 6):
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Greatly enjoyed reading all the articles and reviews, including those by Urth-list regulars Nick Gevers (Potto), Michael Andre-Driussi (Mantis) and Robert Borski (canis terribilis cum quinque capitibus). Very excited, too, at the news that Peter Wright is publishing a book of his studies on Wolfe next year, to be called "Attending Daedalus: Gene Wolfe, Artifice and the Reader". I admire the clear-sightedness of Peter's analysis of the Urth cycle no end, and enjoyed his review of The Book of the New Sun in Ultan's Library much as I enjoyed his previously published articles, but I'm still not sure that I agree with all the conclusions he draws from his analysis. To me, his reading of the Urth cycle seems overly deterministic, but I need to do an awful lot more work before I can - maybe - come up with a convincing counter-argument. (I'm working on it!) I would love to hear what others think of Peter's interpretation of Severian's narrative.
Surprisingly, very little has been posted to either list about Jonathan's first edition of Ultan's Library--doubly so because most of the contributors belong to the Urth/Whorl lists. I could abide the silence no longer, so I must echo Nigel's too-modest praise (too modest regarding his own contribution). I enjoyed each of the pieces, whether I agreed with them or not. Congratulations, one and all! I particularly wanted to mention Nick Gevers' articles on LONG SUN, a series I thought left a lot to be desired. Nick hasn't changed my mind about the books, but I found his insights fascinating, none the less. The companion pieces were very well written; I only wish EXODUS had been so.
As for Peter Wright--where was he last year when I was pointing out that Severian was an unreliable narrator? <g> I find little to argue with in the essay and appreciate the psychological angle on why someone with an eidetic memory can't be trusted to give a reliable account, even when they aren't out-and-out lying or otherwise skirting the truth. As I have said here before, Sev's biggest lies are the ones he doesn't tell, the glaring logical lacunae that spawn so much speculation here, the questions he is in a position to know the answers to but elects not to reveal. But I've argued all this before and will await Nigel's rebuttal.
Also, a belated thank you to alga for sending along her LB articles.
Roy