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RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,081
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
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(Quote) It's a good question :smile: Having thought about it off and on during the day, I have the following ideas: * I think the language is more direct - you haven't needed to provide nearly so much by way of explanatory notes about weird words i…
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And I should have said, if it's not obvious, that I am really enjoying book 2. It seems to me that Wolfe has hit his stride with the story in terms of language and pace, and it really feels as though we (and Severian) are getting somewhere... his li…
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I do agree that he is far too easily inclined to take the letter seriously... perhaps thinking with some part of his body other than his brain?! But taking a step back, I do feel that Gene Wolfe is capturing something important here. In the first…
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Splendid :smile: I'd be in for sure.
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(Quote) Earlier on in that same thread @Michael_S_Miller said "Hmm. May and June are usually pretty busy for me at work. I guess I could take July. Don't want to commit to a book just yet, though." Is The Land God Gave to Cain agreed then…
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(Quote) The specific issues at Whitby were ones that nowadays we would probably consider to be incidental ones (or, being generous, test cases) - the date of Easter, the proper way for monks' hair to be done, etc. At a guess, any folk at the time wh…
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Someone recommended The Farfarers to me years ago but I never got around to reading it. Maybe it's time to rectify that?
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> @dr_mitch said: > > As for the religious angle, there's two things I'd want to consider. The first of these is how the religions epitomise their cultures. It strikes me there's three religions- or rather, two branches of the same rel…
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I've never read any Innes and am very happy to join in
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I'd like it if someone did it but you've only just put up with my choice :smile:
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> @clash_bowley said: > @RichardAbbott said: > I get the impression that this is basically how (at least at present) he handles all of his relationships, especially with women. While with them, they are idolised, but when not there t…
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> @clash_bowley said: > ... the unexplained non-presence of Dorcas. He should be wondering where she was, what she is doing. Instead he does not even think of her. Out of sight, out of mind. I begin to wonder if he is human at all, and whethe…
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I agree with @dr_mitch that the gap was hard to process, and it disoriented me as well. And with @NeilNjae that I just didn't know whether Dorcas et al were absent or just not talked about. When I reconnected with the story, I thought these chapter…
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Just finished this earlier in the week - I'll write a review sometime soon :smile:
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> @Apocryphal said: > > @RichardAbbott and @NeilNjae might also find this interesting. Yes I am, though don't have a lot to contribute :smile: A comment was made about how you get people to "buy in" to the culture, which …
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> @clash_bowley said: > Actually, they spoke Pictish, which was a Brittonic language related to Welsh and Cornish. ... And indeed Cumbric, here in what is now Cumbria, though aside from place names there are exactly three words generally a…
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More to the point, the three levels of meaning in a tale that Severian talks about in ch 32 are very standard in the interpretation of sacred texts. For example, biblical exegesis, especially of Hebrew Bible narrative portions, recognises three leve…
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> @Apocryphal said: > > Also, that's a pretty high wall. Why so high, I wonder. To keep out the free folk of the North? :smile:
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On anything like those timescales we should probably include deliberate terraforming as a reshaper of land masses
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Now I'll have to listen to it and find out 😁
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I just reread the last couple of pages before going on to the next section and noticed "Is it far to Thrax, Severian?" "A long way... at the foot of the first cataract." Now, the only river I can think of which is routinely div…
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(Quote) I'm sure I saw a post bt @Apocryphal a while back but can no longer find it
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(Quote) And another way in which Agia was economical with the truth, presumably in order to at least immobilise Severian.
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I can't see why you'd call it "precursor to" rather than just "SF"
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> @NeilNjae said: > Gorm doesn't present himself as being acting for the good of anyone except the Old Ones, but people are happy to accept that he's generally against the Unclean and willing to help out Hiero for the time being. That could…
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> @clash_bowley said: > @RichardAbbott - Agilus was executed for killing bystanders, which was not planned, and not part of the conspiracy between himself and Agia, therefore she was not punished. I have no idea if their conspiracy is an actu…
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I've been wondering how your music has been getting on of late!
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A bit of a let down for Agia, who rapidly descends from apparent equal and helper to would-be thief and conspirator. I guess what struck me about what Severian called justice was that Agilus got executed but Agia walked away, though both had conspir…
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(Quote) No real connection between the plot lines, I think - at least, none that I can see. But the styles do share something in common, even though Lensman goes back to the late 1930s and Hiero is from the late 1970s. They both have the same space…
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> @Apocryphal said: > ... the House - which, by the way, what an odd name for a fungus monster. I presume that he meant house as in "great family", as in House Lancaster or House York. Or, in modern drama, House Lannister or Hous…