/lit/ - Literature

>>23113847
At this point I'd lean closer to saying its all Father Inire, rather than probably the most popular and accepted theory in all of New Sun, that of the First Severian, influencing our Severian's journey and shaping him into the correct being to bring about salvation on Urth. As much as First Severian is a very powerful theory and would answer a lot as I understand it, I've kind of never been drawn towards it too much, for me I would probably like it more if our Severian was either the third incarnation, or simply the last in an infinite succession of slightly altered Severian's whose life finally slotted into all the perfect conditions and requirements. Either one of these probably make a lot less sense than just having one previous to our current Severian, and anyways I don't like either as much as having Inire acting in place of the invisible influence of the First Severian

And all this is to say I'm still just as lost inside the enormous walls Wolfe's textual labyrinths as anyone, but at least this time I'm trying to find my way by my own light and creating my own meaning from the text, as close or far from Wolfe as it might be, at least it's mine and I can't honestly want any more

4/5

A couple questions to end off with:

What do you think is the purpose of Jonas in this book? What exactly is his connection with Miles?

How does the Cumaean bring the Stone Town and Apu-Punchau back to life, is it something we can understand from the text or a technology so alien we can only understand it as magic?

What are your interpretations of Talos' play and The Tale of the Student and the Son, and what do they mean to the greater story?

What was the original purpose of the mirrors in the House Absolute? A port/docking point for the ships sailing across the stars might be the most likely answer, but maybe they were first created with different uses in mind.

>>23113847
This is first I've seen of the books you've written about. Apparently I haven't been looking through the catalog with sufficient regularity. It's nice to see others doing so in their own way. I considered posting mine as their own threads in addition to being posted in /sffg/. You've gotten as much as response as I'd expect and I doubt I'd fare any better. Of course, that's also why you've posted them on Goodreads and various subreddits. May as well see what others elsewhere may say.

I decided long ago that I would limit myself to a single post per book, but there's nothing wrong with writing several posts. I mostly did so because I was writing them relatively quickly in succession and I didn't think others would read them as much if they were overly long. Maybe doing all the opposite would've been for the better for others, who knows? I usually write them for those who haven't read the book yet and provide as little plot summary or spoilers as I think is necessary.

Yours are definitely for those who have either already read the book or don't mind spoilers. The style reminds me more of a personal journal than anything else, which I don't consider to be a bad thing. I assume the questions are to try to get more of a discussion. Who would you say that you're writing for? I read the reasons why you're doing it, which are as good as any other. I hope that you make it to fifty.

There aren't many that post threads as you have. A few others write about what they've read in the /sffg/ thread and elsewhere. As is evident from the /lit/ related Goodreads groups though, there are many who have written tons of about the books they've read. They very rarely seem to post any of it here from what I can tell, for various reasons, almost all of which are entirely reasonable considering their usual reception.

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. For the convenience of others and possibly yourself I've linked what you've previously written below. The third link will show all the threads that contain the words "review" and "50" in the subject line. Depending on your preferences you may or may not want to include that in your threads. I usually only link to mine when asked or when it's relevant, though I've been doing it more often for previous books in a series recently.

Here's the seven that OP has written thus far:
>>/lit/thread/22927348
>>/lit/thread/22945660
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=Review+50

current /sffg/ thread:
>>23113538

I've been putting off reading the rest of the Solar Cycle. Hopefully I'll have finished it by the end of the year as well. Here's what I've written thus far:
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_text=Wolfe+Sun&search_tripcode=sffg&search_ord=old

Lastly, here's the hundreds I've posted here, from new to old except for those lost due to archive errors:
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_tripcode=sffg

>>23114450
Fuckin hell lad I wasn't expecting all this.
Thank you

>Who would you say that you're writing for?
Firstly for myself, like I said in the first of these reviews I came to really dislike how my interaction with any kind of art was pretty much just "I liked that" or "I didn't like that", which is a pretty pointless way of going about things. Even if I dislike a book I'd rather try and understand why instead of just saying it wasn't for me and moving on immediately. So these are primarily thinking and writing exercises to try and get me going in better understanding my feelings about and appreciating the books I read, and then trying to put that into words, which is a big challenge in itself as I've always been horrible at expressing myself and putting feelings into concrete words and sentences. Secondly, it's for whoever might come across them and maybe have something that they would like to discuss about it, either just about the work in general or in response to something I've written about it, this is why I post each in a few different places just because you never know where the right person/people might be lurking. And then thirdly, because I hope one day I'll write something somewhat insightful and original about a book, something which when read by someone will give them a new aspect to look at and appreciate a book through. I'm a long, long way away from that right now though.

I don't mean to have questions at the end of every review, with Wolfe however, there's really no getting away from it and it's just fun to see what kind of theories and interpretations people have.

Thank you again my friend. You make this endeavour seem more worthwhile than I ever could. I'll most definitely be reading through your reviews and I'm sure there'll be plenty that interests me there.

You deserve my bump, OP, great job

On the surface, I believe that Jonas is our link to the past (our more immediate future). After he's gone through what seems to be an electrical overload and just before he begs Severian to read him a story, doesn't he start rambling about names in some Asian language, and calling out Severian and the whole of society for its pseudo-medieval stagnancy? It might be a mistake to discount his rants as Severian does, if we're to construct a timeline. I gotta say, OP, just when I thought there wasn't much more to say about this masterpiece, here we are. Bravo.
>Be Severian of Nessus
>Meet your best friend
>Lost him unexpectedly
>Immediately revert to your job persona
>Literally putting on your mask to cope with loneliness until you meet your GF again
>MFW you see him in other people throughout your life.

I believe on the surface it's simply true that he missed hs friend and was reminded of him on two other occasions, and I'll have to read it again for a deeper reading.

>>23115191
I started writing about books on a whim roughly five years ago. Not for any particular reason, it's just something I felt like doing and that hasn't changed. It's a fun thing to do and nothing more than that for me. When I started I didn't have any idea of how I wanted to write, which is why I ordered it from newest to oldest. Even now, I wouldn't say I know, but I've come to terms with that, since I'm intending for any of it to be for academic or professional purposes.

I exclusively post speculative fiction on here, though there's somewhat more genres on my Goodreads account. I've sent you a friend request. It may or may not be preferable to view on there rather than the archive site. I have a shelf for reviews to make it more convenient for others in terms of sorting. I wouldn't say what I write is anything notable, so don't worry if it turns out it doesn't interest you or it's disappointing. I won't mind. If I did then I would be concerned about how I have a dedicated anon that tries to respond to as quickly as possible to literally everything that I post to tell me how terrible everything I write it is. As it is, I find that amusing rather than annoying.

You may be underestimating yourself. Your personal goal may be long, long, away, but that doesn't mean that others aren't able to find what you write to be meaningful as the other anon above this post has noted. As a note, I could've replied elsewhere, but I saw it here first. A neat thing on Reddit though is that you can see how many views your own posts get in the first 48 hours. Though, that can be also be a disappointing when you see how may thousands have viewed it without leaving any comments, or much else.

>>23115642
Yes I definitely agree that Jonas is our link to the past, a past still hundreds if not thousands of years in our future. If I had to guess the language he speaks is Korean and the society he comes from is some kind of North Korean empire. Kim Lee-Soong could very well be a reference to Kim Il Sung, the 'eternal dictator' whose body rests in the Kumusan Palace of the Sun. He says that was a common name in his time, well in a society like that why wouldn't everyone be called that, especially those who were created rather than born. Wolfe's experiences fighting in the Korean War definitely get shape other parts of the book so this could very well be another one, plus its another very Wolfean twist were rather than the usual American capitalist powerhouse it's the Asian communist dictatorship which in time proves more powerful and claims dominion over Urth and the stars.

Also, I'm almost certain that Jonas is also in the the Story of the Student and His Son, I'm not exactly sure where to place him, but from my current understanding of it it would make a lot of sense, plus I think it adds more to having Severian choose that story at random to read to Jonas than just for it to be a way for Jonas to start recognising where he has been all these years.

>>23115897
yes I definitely agree it can be fun, though also quite a challenge for me as I am right now, but making and effort to find the right way to express yourself can only be a good thing. As much as I don't read all too much genre/speculative fiction I think I should start reading more, once you read so many classic or great books they stop feeling as special and sort of all blur together, which is why I should try and have more kind of lighter stuff to read in-between as a little stopgap palate cleanser, and also because they're usually just good fun to read.

>>23116918
I remembered I wrote some notes for the first book and only the first book. I've only read them once. There would've more if I had read it with reading group. It's fun to discuss at length with others when possible. It'd take 4 full posts to post it here, so here's a link instead.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DzMXTXd8NXBsiIsYKg4S-47RkiUE3_xU6DR4tKYAgeo

>>23117113
Well you definitely got a lot more out of a first read than I did. How did you find the rest of the books, and do you think you're ever going to go back and re-read them?

>>23117371
They were as I wrote about them, as can be seen on my Goodreads profile or the warosu archive link I previously posted. There's definitely a lot more that later happened that I think can only be speculated about rather than known for certain. Maybe once I've read the rest of the Solar Cycle more will become evident, but that assumes I will remember a lot of specific details, which is doubtful. I'm not much for re-reading, so it's more likely than not that I won't. I'll try to comment more on the later books as you read then. The puzzles of the book don't interest me enough to create elaborate speculations that border on fanfiction. Many others have done so though.

Coomer here

Any jolenta porn?

>>23118216
fair enough then, I look forward to your comments on the later books

>>23118554
sup severian

>>23113849
>What do you think is the purpose of Jonas in this book? What exactly is his connection with Miles?
Jonas is a relic of a long-vanished age when humanity sailed between the stars. He's a reminder of what humans were once capable of, and may be again if Severian fulfils his destiny.
It's made pretty clear that Miles literally is Jonas, who vowed to return to Urth after being repaired.

>How does the Cumaean bring the Stone Town and Apu-Punchau back to life
Wolfe describes time as like a tapestry. It's possible to move "sideways" along the "weft" of time, and enter alternate timelines. The Cumean (and also the Green Man) are able to travel along the "warp" of time, into the past and future.
The remarkable scene where the Stone Town is recreated describes the reversed entropy that would be experienced by a traveller going backwards in time.

>What are your interpretations of Talos' play and The Tale of the Student and the Son, and what do they mean to the greater story?
They're reminders that the archetypal themes that are handled in the books encompass the whole of human history. They link the far future with the ancient past.

>What was the original purpose of the mirrors in the House Absolute?
Just the purpose that Jonas makes use of. They're a portal to another place and/or time.

>>23118554
i like how severian said he porked her so as to punish her for her self possession

>>23118554
>porn featuring butchered surgically-enhanced skanks
Plenty, unfortunately.
Give me Agia porn every time.

>>23120266
>It's made pretty clear that Miles literally is Jonas, who vowed to return to Urth after being repaired.
i disagree. severian was dying of a plague and that entire journey they made together is questionable. he could have been seeing/hearing things that reminded him of jonas because jonas meant so much to him. it's been a while since i've read it but that was my take on it.

>>23120266
do you think it's possible, because of the fact that time in TBOTNS is a tapestry and not a straight line, that the Miles that Severian encounters is the very same person who will eventually be hit by the spaceship and used for parts to repair robot Jonas in the deep past? This could be why Jonas becomes friends with Severian as the parts of him that are Miles, particularly his eyes, remember and trust Severian. But then maybe its the whole point of Jonas going into the mirrors is to split the two into separate entities to lead their own lives and not to perpetuate some kind of time loop.

>>23120877
NTA, your last point is how I took it after reading Urth.

>>23120396
>Agia
>milliions of terabytes of evil-looking hotties coming right up

>>23122060
interested, well I'm definitely looking forward to reading Urth for the first time in the next couple months. Are there any other things you now see differently/had answered about the first four books in Urth?

>>23122502
NTA, Urth changes everything.

>>23122525
like what in particular?

>>23122144
You know bad girls are the best.