From: joak@ocf.berkeley.edu (Jonathan A. Kung)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Gene Wolfe's New Sun stuff
Date: 2 Oct 1992 16:48:11 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: planecrash.berkeley.edu
Summary: I would like some answers to several burning questions

I remember a thread from a month or so back where Wolfe's stuff was
being discussed, and various people claimed to know most of what was
going on.  Well, I am not one of those people.  If anyone could e-mail
me or post on the following, I will surely die of gratitude.  My brain
is under too much strain as it is.

There may be spoilers below, and I STILL don't know how to ^L with JOVE,
so I'll be seeing you in a few...




















1.  Who Severian's mother is.  I have a hunch that's she's Dorcas,
    tortured by the Guild for some reason, so they took Severian in.
2.  Who that servant that ran away after passing the warning note
    in the inn by the Sanguinary Fields is.  Is he the one that
    married Dorcas at the end?
3.  That old man Dorcas was mourning at the end of the Book -- was
    that her husband?
4.  That business with the aliens from the other universe -- in which
    universe does Book take place, and in which ones does Urth take
    place, and how are they related.
5.  The first Claw that Severian got -- was it really "magical"?  Or
    did it glow because of previous contact with the past Severian?
    Or did it glow because Severian wanted it to?
6.  Why I always fell asleep after reading every hundred pages or so.
7.  Is Severian the first Autarch with his kind of memory?  I had at
    first thought that each Autarch had perfect memory, and each one
    would wait until the next person with perfect memory came along,
    and then groom him for the Autarchy.
8.  Book takes place in the VERY far future, right?
9.  Was the Citadel originally a "space ship"?  There were some
    references to "cabins" for the journeyman with "portholes", and
    Severian once says, I think, how wonderful it would be if the
    tower just blasted off into space like it was meant to.
10. What happened during the time between Shadow, I think, and the
    next part, at the Wall, that separated Severian and Jonas from
    the rest?
11. Did that guy who helped Severian and A-wozname and Dorcas out
    in the lake of the dead (or whatever it was called) die in that
    episode at the end of one of the books with the witches and Apu-
    Punchau?
12. What the HELL is the deal with Apu-Punchau?  I don't think I can
    get it straight without a bit of help...
13. Typhon -- why didn't he remember Severian's face from before and
    kill him when he had the chance the second time (for Typhon) they
    met?
14. What was the deal with the fights in space on the ship that sailed
    between universes?  I was kind of unclear on this (along with
    everything else I'm asking about).
15. Whose crypt does Severian lie in?  It's from one of his past lives,
    right?
16. Severian dies several times, but is cloned by the Hierogrammates,
    or something, right?
17. Terminus Est was originally the property of that one guard in the
    past, right?

Well, that's all I can think of or remember right now, I'll probably
have more later.  Maybe I'll reread the books.

Was anyone else impressed by the scope of these novels?  It was neat
how you get to see Typhon's mountain in progress after you see the
finished product -- the sheer scale is impressive, yet the Citadel
dwarfs that project, and the Wall is even larger than I can really
picture being built.

Yeesh, my mind just shorted out, so I guess I should go.

-Jon Kung, having trouble typing without the use of his brain
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written