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Deltron 3030 posted:One thing that kinda bothered me is how Severian loves or at least lusts after (and often bangs) almost every female character in the book. Maybe it has something to do with growing up isolated with all dudes but it seemed a little excessive. It's possible, even likely that he's lying about how much sex he's had. Keep in mind that in the one case where he almost certainly did, and where he was definitely in love with the woman in question (Thecla) he goes out of the way to gloss over or omit mentioning it until the Thecla-personality part of him confirms it. Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Apr 2, 2012 |
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Apr 2, 2012 05:40
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BuckarooBanzai posted:Why do you think he's lying about the amount of times he's had sex? Can anyone cite more specific examples of Severian's lies? Other than the omission that he was sleeping with Thecla I mean. I don't have any specific evidence, or if I had it was when I read the books months ago. It just seems like a reasonable assumption when the text itself tells you that its 16-year-old(!) narrator can't be trusted, that he hasn't actually slept with virtually every woman he's met. The whole series reads like self-aggrandizement by someone smart enough to realize you have to get shown up once in a while to stay believable. He can bring people back from the dead, but it's totally the Claw, not him! (Only it turns out he's actually the Conciliator himself.) He's no great master of combat, but he defeats everyone who fights him man-to-man... except the two-headed imperial demigod, because that would just be silly. (And then he outwits him.) His looks are unremarkable and he belongs to a despised social caste, but every woman he meets wants to jump his bones. But his love for Thecla is pure! (Oh wait, it's the one sexual relationship he's had where he wasn't overwhelmingly in control.) I mean, sure, maybe I'm reaching here because I was told ahead of time to look for bullshit. I just wouldn't believe this story if Severian were a real person telling it to me, and I don't have a clear enough picture of the "there are many Severians being killed and replaced by clones and everything is being manipulated by aliens stuff to know whether and how much of his absurdity it explains.
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May 5, 2012 07:07
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EDIT: Dumb question easily answered by looking at Amazon. Urth of the New Sun is on Kindle now! 
Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Oct 25, 2012 |
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Oct 25, 2012 11:35
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I realize this is pretty small compared to some of the revelations you might stumble over, but I'm on my second read of BotNS and it just occurred to me Triskele was already dead when Severian found him, wasn't he?
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Nov 1, 2012 02:47
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andrew smash posted:It's been a while since I read it and I don't remember reaching that specific conclusion, what convinced you that was the case? Pretty much what Lex Talionis said, plus I thought it would be strange for a guild that literally marries its animals to throw a live animal into a garbage pit.
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Nov 1, 2012 15:44
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rufius posted:I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels like some of Wolfe's stuff is non-sensical. I had a similar experience with deciding to reread the BotNS, but once I got started I didn't regret it at all. I don't expect to understand everything even after a second reading (I haven't read UotNS or BotLS yet at all) but a lot of scenes that seemed completely arbitrary the first time around become a lot more relevant in context.
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Dec 3, 2012 22:17
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StrawmanUK posted:Its so annoying that Urth of the New Sun isnt available on Kindle when the other books are! I've got some good news for you.
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Mar 14, 2013 18:34
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Disappointing egg posted:Just about all the characters in Book of the New Sun are named after saints. More specifically, humans are named after saints, aliens are not.
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Jun 4, 2015 10:30
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Stravinsky posted:I can't believe he died as soon as I started reading one of his books. Gene Wolfe's not dead.
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Jun 16, 2015 15:43
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You're a class act, Stravinsky.
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Jun 16, 2015 15:52
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Rime posted:I don't particularly care how many times he fixes his drat shirt and how this will impact the feelings of his cyborg coworkers, I want to know more about the world FFS. You can read literally any other science fiction in existence, I want to read about those things.
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Sep 13, 2015 13:22
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sebmojo posted:My issues are more around the lengthy periods where it just seems like everyone is explaining the plot to each other. That I can see, but even then I kind of suspect that, at least with some of those times, the point is that their explanations are wrong due to faulty information or outright lying. (Although much less of the latter compared to anything in BotNS.)
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Sep 13, 2015 23:34
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Space-Bird posted:I'm enjoying how I can't tell if Severian is a complete lunatic, who is telling a revised and idealized version of events or maybe just an autistic dude on an adventure. I'm going into this blind, so I have no idea what to expect. He's definitely revising and idealizing. Don't look up the specifics unless you want to get spoiled, but Severian is constantly glossing over or even outright lying about all kinds of things that make him look ignorant, childish, or weak -- these ones are probably conscious -- and he also does some really horrific things while seemingly unable to realize that they're wrong.
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Oct 11, 2015 15:53
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Space-Bird posted:I enjoyed the heck out of the books but...whats a GURPS and what does it do? I think he's suggesting that you get a tabletop roleplaying game sourcebook and use it to understand the novel better.
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May 14, 2016 23:58
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Atlas Hugged posted:It's also important to remember that it's entirely plausible that Severian never had sexual relations with any of these women. Well, with one exception -- he almost certainly slept with Thecla. He denies it himself, but later on her personality fragment pretty much confirms it.
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Sep 29, 2016 17:04
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