/lit/ - Literature

>>6215255
I know what you mean. There's something about the layering of perception and levels of reality, I think.

Aww Fuck I'm enjoying Njal's Saga. Does that mean I'll like this turd as well?

>>6215265
Yeah definitely. Sort of figuring out what is happening in certain parts is really cool because Wolfe doesn't spoon feed you shit, but its there.

>>6215255

BotNS is one of the only books I can't seem to get out of my head. Most books I will read and contemplate for a few weeks and then I won't think about them until I am reminded of them. I am always thinking about BotNS and I always return to it on an almost weekly basis, even if it's just to re-read some of my favorite passages.

I can only think of a few other books that have imprinted on my mind like it--Moby-Dick, The Brothers K, The Bible, some of Kirkegaard's work, Aquinas...

BotNS is truly something special.

>>6215255
St. Wolfe is a genius.

>>6216480
>I can only think of a few other books that have imprinted on my mind like it--Moby-Dick, The Brothers K, The Bible, some of Kirkegaard's work, Aquinas...

Shit, I don't have any books I think about on a regular basis.

Man, I really feel like I'm seeing Neil Gaiman quoted on the front of a ton of books recently. I mean, I really love Neil Gaiman, and if I'm completely honest seeing that quote at the very least piques my interest, but still it seems a tad bit overused.

But anyway, I've been interested in this book for a while, and this thread is making me even more interested, might pick it up in my next batch of purchases.

>>6216767
Definitely do, you won't regret it, beautiful prose, dreamy, almost druggy atmosphere, narcissistic narrator, glorious Christian allegories and hyper technical aliens, all wrapped into one fantasy package


It's actually insane

I know what you mean, OP. For me it's the lingering mysteries. No matter how many times I've reread it there are still questions that remain unanswered.

Who really is Kimleesoong? Why does Apu-Punchau live on a planet orbiting Fomalhaut? Why does everyone know Fechin?

It really is a wonderful book. It's a shame Wolfe won't live forever.

>>6216480
>>6216809
>>6217582
OP here, I'm glad you guys understand. I mean, I think anyone that reads this books knows what I mean, but I believe there could be a class on this book alone. It's really remarkable.

>>6218271
Have you read through any of the posts on the Urth mailing list? It's barbaric as fuck navigating through the site but there's a ton of interesting discussion.

>>6215255
I know what you mean. I think its because the book forces you to extensively use your imagination, and as a result you end up having very vivid recollections of it.

the executions were insane, my favourite image is when he comes to vodalus in the forest, gonna try and find the passage so i can post it here, shit was so dope

Any read the other sun series? Worth it?

>>6215255
It has so many layers of content that every time you "solve a problem" you find a new one and it can draw you in like no other book can. It's my all time favourite, read it two times so far, first time two and a half years ago and there isn't a single day I don't think about the book. Only Dostoevsky had the same effect on me, truly amazing stuff. It's the book I'll give to my kids to read one day.

>>6218751
Same. Pretty vivid, especially the way it's wrapped up

>The contraction of his muscles snapped him erect, as often happens when the subject is not made to kneel; I think the spray of blood was the first sign the trainer had (so swiftly had it all taken place) that something was amiss. He looked back at us, and I was able to take him very neatly, swinging the blade one-handed in the horizontal stroke, as I leaned out of the howdah.
>His head had no more than struck the ground when the baluchither stepped between two great trees growing so close together that he seemed to squeeze himself like a mouse through a crevice in a wall. Beyond lay a glade more open than anything I had seen in that forest—where grass grew as well as fern, and spots of sunlight, unshaded with green and rich as orpiment, played over the turf. Here Vodalus had caused to be erected his throne, beneath a canopy woven of flowering vines; and here, as it chanced, he sat with the Chatelaine Thea beside him just as we entered, judging and rewarding his followers.
>Jonas saw nothing of that, being still sprawled on the floor of the howdah, where he was cutting his hands free with the dagger. I made up for him, for I beheld everything as I stood upright, balanced against the pitching of the baluchither’s back and holding up my sword, red now to the hilt. A hundred faces turned toward us, with the face of the exultant on the throne among them, and the heart-shaped face of his consort; and in their eyes I saw what they must have seen at that moment: the great animal bestridden by a headless man, its forequarters dyed with his blood; myself standing erect upon its back, with my sword and fuligin cloak

>>6215255
I'm halfway through Claw, and one is the androgyne supposed to be autarch? Severian said his town gave him away and then dropped to bow, but the androgyne just got through telling Sev he had to kill the autarch

>>6219815
*tone, not town

>>6219815
Yeah, that is the Autarch

>>6219815
Don't visit these threads until you finish the book. If you're so eager to be spoiled just read the Wikipedia article.