A questionWhorl

All of this talk of Exodus now is making me desperate to read it, but before I do I need to know something. Do I need to invest the time in rereading the first books before this one will make any sense? By the way, I keep on noticing that GW is praising Lamarkism. He is off-base here, but is this a possible list topic? _____________________________________________ James A. Stewart james.stewart at worldnet.att.net or jstewart at cougar.colstate.cc.oh.us Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com

On Mon, 20 Jan 1997 20:07:21 -0500, James Stewart wrote: : : [Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun] : : All of this talk of Exodus now is making me desperate to read it, but : before I do I need to know something. Do I need to invest the time in : rereading the first books before this one will make any sense? I found that it buttoned things up quite nicely, and that it made a bit more sense (was less opaque) than the previous books. : By the way, I keep on noticing that GW is praising Lamarkism. He is : off-base here, but is this a possible list topic? Depends. What's Lamarkism? _________________ revjack at radix.net Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com

**** On Mon, 20 Jan 1997 20:07:21 -0500, James Stewart <james.stewart at worldnet.att.net> said: James> All of this talk of Exodus now is making me desperate to read it, James> but before I do I need to know something. Do I need to invest the James> time in rereading the first books before this one will make any James> sense? I certainly did reread the first three books; it's very helpful. Given the long gap between the third and fourth books, it's easy to forget too many of those important details.

Well, now I have my reading set forth for me for the next month or so. I have to reread the first two books, the third, and then the forth. By the way, there is a possible half-assed justification for Lamarck based upon Gary Wills "Wisdom of the Genes," but that is very off-topic. _____________________________________________ James A. Stewart james.stewart at worldnet.att.net or jstewart at cougar.colstate.cc.oh.us Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com

James writes:

Our local reading group, The Fictionados, decided it would be wise to reread the first three books before trying to tackle EXODUS. The two year gap being the main reason. Wolfe is brutal to readers who forget critical details. I am now in LAKE and am finding the experience much richer and more satisfying. I was still trying to learn the rules of the Whorl on the first pass. Now I can dig deeper and delve into some of the fun mysteries Wolfe has buried. Some of the comments on this archive are driving me to read EXODUS but I know that a careful reading of the precursors will pay off when I get there. I am reading all the "spoilers" posted. Wolfe has never been about what happens next. Getting there is the fun. =Doug Eigsti= douge at nti.com Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com

In message <199701210234.SAA03234 at lists1.best.com>, "Fernando Q. Gouvea" writes :

I did so too, for the same reason. Maybe I read the books too quickly the first time, but the characters, particularly the sybils seemed more vivid the second time around. Of course, some of the character traits are very distinct, such as Maytera Rose's judgemental temperament. Derek Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com