Quotations

Hi all I've just joined the list and hope to be an active participant in discussions. Please forgive me if the following question has already been addressed, I haven't had time to work my way through the archives . When Severian meets Ultan in the library, the Master Librarian quotes the following lines to him: 'Of the trail of ink there is no end.' 'A man will give his life to the turning over of a collection of books.' Thanks in advance for your responses. Matt

Welcome! What's the question? I'm guessing you are asking where the apparent quotations come from. I did a google search out of curiosity but found nothing useful. Perhaps Wolfe got them somewhere obscure, or perhaps he invented them! Maybe somebody else has a clue. - Gerry Quinn ----- Original Message ----- From: Matthew Wisbey To: urth at urth.net Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 2:06 PM Subject: (urth) Quotations Hi all I've just joined the list and hope to be an active participant in discussions. Please forgive me if the following question has already been addressed, I haven't had time to work my way through the archives . When Severian meets Ultan in the library, the Master Librarian quotes the following lines to him: 'Of the trail of ink there is no end.' 'A man will give his life to the turning over of a collection of books.' Thanks in advance for your responses. Matt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________

Same here. I would guess they are more "in the style of" an author than direct quotes.

Well, given the source, I would expect them to be found in Borges. And given that Borges did not originally write in English, it seems plausible that we're seeing Wolfe's translation, which is not necessarily word-for-word anyone else's, and so it might therefore make sense that you couldn't find it with Google. Someone with a much more encyclopedic knowledge of Borges than I might be able to say whether it's a quotation or just something that sounds kinda like Borges. Adam

Welcome. There seem to be a lot of "Matthews" around here. I know another Matthew NewSun nut who doesn't post here as well. Something about this quasi-religious stuff atracts Matthews. ~witz

Welcome Matthew! Six years ago I joined the List and did my best to peruse the archives first. It was really difficult then. Now I think it is just too damn big to try anything more than cursory perusal. We rehash questions here all the time. No problem. Most of the time I find new insights with re-discussion.

Would you prefer Matthew's name was John or Joshua? heh. (We've had a lot of JW's here too)

Jose Luis Borges wrote a story called "Mirror Of Ink". It was set in ancient times, involved a ruler and his wizard advisor, and an execution, a beheading. Maybe an indirect inspiration for BotNS? Perhaps the quote was Wolfe acknowledging Borges as his direct predecessor. Borges also wrote about the "Library Of Babel". "Many of Borges's signature themes are featured in the story, including infinity, reality, cabalistic reasoning, and labyrinths". Some quotes:

There is a lot more. I think WOlfe owes much to Borges. David (stockhoff), per our previous discussion and my observations of possible devil/demiurge associations with Ultan (Borges), it may be that Wolfe does this inspired by Borges' own self-assessment (if there is more in his work like #4). Here is an interesting list of books: http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtborges.html

I'm quite sure that: 1) Ultan is meant to be (FSVO) Borges. In fact it's Ultan that convinced me that Nessus was intended to be the future Buenos Aires, because after all how many south-of-the-Equator blind National Librarians can there be? 2) Cyby is the Gary-Stu insertion of Wolfe into the story (thanks to someone--maybe Borski? Maybe someone else? at ReaderCon '98 for pointing this out to me). 3) So of course Ultan is Author-as-Demiurge, and as acknowledged mentor to our actual authorial demiurge. But then I think of BotNS, in some sense, as "What if Borges had written The Dying Earth?" Adam

I agree. Although...I think it might be more complex. Ultan mentions reading on the 49th floor, overlooking a bed of rosemary; while Wolfe published SotT at age 49 having wife Rosemary. Might be a bit of WOlfe in Ultan also. I think this is paralleled later. I'm not the only one to find Severian's ostensible Dad, Ouen having a physical description which matches Gene WOlfe's at that time. Master and apprentice combined. Father and son combined. (I won't mention Dionysus, Zeus The OUtsider and Pas at this time. I WON'T!)

Oh, hell yes. That is just perfect.

Nor Jesus. Nope sorry.