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---
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id:
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aliases: []
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tags: []
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title: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
|
||||
This page is for my notes of Gene Wolfe's _The Book of the New Sun_,
|
||||
which consists of
|
||||
|
||||
1. [[wolfe_1980_shadow|The Shadow of the Torturer]]
|
||||
2. [[wolfe_1981_claw|The Claw of the Conciliator]]
|
||||
3. [[wolfe_1981_sword|The Sword of the Lictor]]
|
||||
4. [[wolfe_1982_citadel|The Citadel of the Autarch]]
|
||||
5. [[wolfe_1987_urth|The Urth of the New Sun]]
|
||||
|
||||
> [!danger]
|
||||
> This page contains major spoilers the books listed above.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!info] The Solar Cycle
|
||||
> _The Book of the New Sun_ (abbreviated BotNS) is itself
|
||||
> part of a trilogy of series called "The Solar Cycle"
|
||||
> which consists of
|
||||
>
|
||||
> 1. _The Book of the New Sun_
|
||||
> 2. _The Book of the Long Sun_
|
||||
> 3. _The Book of the Short Sun_
|
||||
>
|
||||
> I have not yet read the latter two series.
|
||||
|
||||
## Characters
|
||||
|
||||
This list is intended to be ordered
|
||||
such that entries give necessary context
|
||||
to those that follow them.
|
||||
|
||||
### Severian
|
||||
|
||||
Severian is an apprentice of the Order of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence,
|
||||
called the Guild of Torturers by outsiders.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#I - Resurrection and Death]]
|
||||
> Of those values that Master Malrubius
|
||||
> (who had been master of apprentices when I was a boy)
|
||||
> had tried to teach me,
|
||||
> and that Master Palaemon still tried to impart,
|
||||
> I accepted only one: loyalty to the guild.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#X - The Last Year]]
|
||||
> ...though I loved the guild I hated it too---
|
||||
> not because of the pain it inflicted on clients
|
||||
> who must sometimes have been innocent,
|
||||
> and who must often have been punished
|
||||
> beyond anything that could be justified by their offences;
|
||||
> but because it seemed to me inefficient and ineffectual,
|
||||
> serving a power that was not only ineffectual but remote.
|
||||
> I do not know how better to express my feelings about it
|
||||
> than by saying that I hated it for starving and humiliating me
|
||||
> and loved it because it was my home,
|
||||
> hated and loved it because it was the exemplar of old things,
|
||||
> because it was weak, and because it seemed indestructible.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> Naturally I expressed none of this to Master Palaemon,
|
||||
> though I might have if Master Gurloes had not been present.
|
||||
|
||||
### Chatelaine Thecla
|
||||
|
||||
The title "chatelaine" is borrowed from the French _châtelaine_,
|
||||
denoting the mistress of a castle or large household.
|
||||
but considering the role Thecla and her peers play
|
||||
for the Autarch I can't help but note the similarity to "chattel"
|
||||
(of unrelated etymology).
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#VII - The Traitress]]
|
||||
> "Most of them have nobody at court---
|
||||
> can't afford it, or are afraid of it.
|
||||
> Those are the small ones.
|
||||
> The greater families must:
|
||||
> the Autarch wants a concubine he can lay hands on if they start misbehaving.
|
||||
> Now the Autarch can't play quadrille with five hundred women.
|
||||
> There are maybe twenty.
|
||||
|
||||
If the connection does exist, it is not diegetic.
|
||||
Thea, Thecla's half-sister, claims the title after Thecla's death.
|
||||
|
||||
### Masters of the Guild
|
||||
|
||||
I suspect the these three form some sort of trinity.
|
||||
|
||||
They are all described as aged and not well for it.
|
||||
|
||||
### Master Gurloes
|
||||
|
||||
Master Gurloes is the first of the three mentioned.
|
||||
It seems that where Palaemon is the master of apprentices,
|
||||
Gurloes handles most everything else.
|
||||
|
||||
Gurloes sends Severian on his errand to fetch Thecla's books,
|
||||
and administers her torture.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#VII - The Traitress]]
|
||||
> Gurloes was one of the most complex men I have known,
|
||||
> because he was a complex man trying to be simple.
|
||||
> Not a simple, but a complex man's idea of simplicity.
|
||||
> Just as a courtier forms himself into something brilliant and involved,
|
||||
> midway between a dancing master and a diplomacist,
|
||||
> with a touch of assassin if needed,
|
||||
> so Master Gurloes had shaped himself to be the dull creature
|
||||
> a pursuivant or bailiff expected to see when he summoned the head of our guild,
|
||||
> and that is the only thing a real torturer cannot be.
|
||||
> The strain showed;
|
||||
> though every part of Gurloes was as it should have been, none of the parts fit.
|
||||
> He drank heavily and suffered from nightmares,
|
||||
> but he had the nightmares when he had been drinking,
|
||||
> as if the wine, instead of bolting the doors of his mind,
|
||||
> threw them open and left him staggering about in the last hours of the night,
|
||||
> trying to catch a glimpse of a sun that had not yet appeared,
|
||||
> a sun that would banish the phantoms from his big cabin
|
||||
> and permit him to dress and send the journeymen to their business.
|
||||
> Sometimes he went to the top of our tower, above the guns,
|
||||
> and waited there talking to himself,
|
||||
> peering through glass said to be harder than flint for the first beams.
|
||||
> He was the only one in our guild---Master Palaemon not excepted---
|
||||
> who was unafraid of the energies there
|
||||
> and the unseen mouths that spoke sometimes to human beings
|
||||
> and sometimes to other mouths in other towers and keeps.
|
||||
> He loved music, but he thumped the arm of his chair to it and tapped his foot,
|
||||
> and did so most vigorously to the kind he liked best,
|
||||
> whose rhythms were too subtle for any regular cadence.
|
||||
> He ate too much and too seldom,
|
||||
> read when he thought no one knew of it,
|
||||
> and visited certain of our clients, including one on the third level,
|
||||
> to talk of things none of us eavesdropping in the corridor outside could understand.
|
||||
> His eyes were refulgent, brighter than any woman's.
|
||||
> He mispronounced quite common words: urticate, salpinx, bordereau.
|
||||
> I cannot well tell you how bad he looked when I returned to the Citadel recently,
|
||||
> how bad he looks now.
|
||||
|
||||
### Master Palaemon
|
||||
|
||||
Master Palaemon is master of apprentices
|
||||
for the latter and larger part of Severian's apprenticeship.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XIII - The Lictor of Thrax]]
|
||||
> "Severian!" Master Palaemon exclaimed.
|
||||
> "You are not listening to me.
|
||||
> You were never an inattentive pupil in our classes."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "I'm sorry. I was thinking about a great many things."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "No doubt." For the first time he really smiled,
|
||||
> and for an instant looked his old self,
|
||||
> the Master Palaemon of my boyhood.
|
||||
|
||||
### Master Malrubius
|
||||
|
||||
Malrubius is the most interesting of the three
|
||||
because he is characterized exclusively by Severian's
|
||||
memory of the man after his death,
|
||||
while Severian himself was a young boy.
|
||||
|
||||
Of the master torturers of Severian's youth,
|
||||
Malrubius seems the most sympathetic in his mind
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1981_claw#XVI - Jonas]]
|
||||
> "It's all right," I told him. "Everything is all right, Jonas."
|
||||
> I despised myself for it,
|
||||
> but I was talking to him as if he were the youngest of apprentices,
|
||||
> just as, years before, Master Malrubius had spoken to me.
|
||||
|
||||
Malrubius appears to Severian when he is in peril,
|
||||
first when he is nearly drowned in the river Gyoll:
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#II - Severian]]
|
||||
> Master Malrubius, who had died several years before,
|
||||
> was waking us by drumming on the bulkhead with a spoon:
|
||||
> that was the metallic din I heard.
|
||||
> I lay in my cot unable to rise,
|
||||
> though Drotte and Roche and the younger boys were all up,
|
||||
> yawning and fumbling for their clothes.
|
||||
> Master Malrubius's cloak was thrown back;
|
||||
> I could see the loose skin of his chest and belly
|
||||
> where the muscle and fat had been destroyed by time.
|
||||
> There was a triangle of hair there, and it was as gray as mildew.
|
||||
> I tried to call to him to tell him I was awake, but I could make no sound.
|
||||
> He began to walk along the bulkhead, still striking it with his spoon.
|
||||
> After what seemed a very long time he reached the port, stopped and leaned out.
|
||||
> I knew he was looking for me in the Old Yard below.
|
||||
|
||||
Again when he dangerously intoxicated after his raising to journeyman:
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XI - The Feast]]
|
||||
> ...sick though I was, I felt I needed to fear unreality no longer---
|
||||
> I was back in the world of solid objects and plain light.
|
||||
> My door opened a trifle and Master Malrubius looked in
|
||||
> as though to make certain I was all right.
|
||||
> I waved to him and he shut the door again.
|
||||
> It was some time before I recalled that he had died while I was still a boy.
|
||||
|
||||
***
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XXXIII - Five Legs]]
|
||||
> I am not sure how old I was when Master Malrubius died.
|
||||
> It was a number of years before I became captain,
|
||||
> so I must have been quite a small boy.
|
||||
> I remember very well, however,
|
||||
> how it was when Master Palaemon succeeded him as master of apprentices;
|
||||
> Master Malrubius had held that position
|
||||
> ever since I had been aware that such a thing existed,
|
||||
> and for weeks and perhaps months it seemed to me that Master Palaemon
|
||||
> (though I liked him as well or better)
|
||||
> could not be our real master in the sense that Master Malrubius had been.
|
||||
> The atmosphere of dislocation and unreality
|
||||
> was heightened by the knowledge that Master Malrubius was not dead or even away
|
||||
> ...
|
||||
> that he was, in fact, merely lying in his cabin,
|
||||
> lying in the same bed he had slept in each night
|
||||
> when he was still teaching and disciplining us.
|
||||
> There is a saying that unseen is as good as unbeen;
|
||||
> but in this case it was otherwise---
|
||||
> unseen, Master Malrubius was more palpably present than ever before.
|
||||
> Master Palaemon refused to assert that he would never return,
|
||||
> and so every act was weighed in double scales:
|
||||
> _"Would Master Palaemon permit it?"_ and
|
||||
> _"What would Master Malrubius say?"_
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XXXIII - Five Legs]]
|
||||
> Footfalls reached my ears yet hardly disturbed my rest,
|
||||
> heavy, yet softly pattering;
|
||||
> then the sound of breath, the snuffling of an animal.
|
||||
> If I was awake, my eyes were open;
|
||||
> but I was still so nearly in sleep that I did not turn my head.
|
||||
> The animal approached me and sniffed at my clothes and my face.
|
||||
> It was Triskele, and Triskele lay down with his spine pressed against my body.
|
||||
> It did not seem odd then that he had found me,
|
||||
> though I recall feeling a certain pleasure at seeing him again.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> Once more I heard footsteps,
|
||||
> now the slow, firm tread of a man;
|
||||
> I knew at once that it was Master Malrubius---
|
||||
> I could recall his step in the corridors under the tower
|
||||
> on the days when we made the rounds of the cells;
|
||||
> the sound was the same.
|
||||
> He came into the circle of my vision.
|
||||
> His cloak was dusty, as it always was save on the most formal occasions;
|
||||
> he drew it about him in the old way
|
||||
> as he seated himself on a box of properties.
|
||||
> "Severian. Name for me the seven principles of governance."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> It was an effort for me to speak, but I managed
|
||||
> (in my dream, if it was a dream) to say,
|
||||
> "I do not recall that we have studied such a thing, Master."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "You were always the most careless of my boys,"
|
||||
> he told me, and fell silent.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> A foreboding grew on me;
|
||||
> I sensed that if I did not reply, some tragedy would occur.
|
||||
> At last I began weakly, "Anarchy ..."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "That is not governance, but the lack of it.
|
||||
> I taught you that it precedes all governance.
|
||||
> Now list the seven sorts."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Attachment to the person of the monarch.
|
||||
> Attachment to a bloodline or other sequence of succession.
|
||||
> Attachment to the royal state.
|
||||
> Attachment to a code legitimizing the governing state.
|
||||
> Attachment to the law only.
|
||||
> Attachment to a greater or lesser board of electors, as framers of the law.
|
||||
> Attachment to an abstraction conceived as including the body of electors,
|
||||
> other bodies giving rise to them, and numerous other elements, largely ideal."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Tolerable. Of these, which is the earliest form, and which the highest?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "The development is in the order given, Master," I said.
|
||||
> "But I do not recall that you ever asked before which was highest."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> Master Malrubius leaned forward,
|
||||
> his eyes burning brighter than the coals of the fire.
|
||||
> "Which is highest, Severian?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "The last, Master?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "You mean attachment to an abstraction conceived as including the body of electors,
|
||||
> other bodies giving rise to them, and numerous other elements, largely ideal?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Yes, Master."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Of what kind, Severian, is your own attachment to the Divine Entity?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> I said nothing. It may have been that I was thinking;
|
||||
> but if so, my mind was too much filled with sleep to be conscious of its thought.
|
||||
> Instead, I became profoundly aware of my physical surroundings.
|
||||
> The sky above my face in all its grandeur
|
||||
> seemed to have been made solely for my benefit,
|
||||
> and to be presented for my inspection now.
|
||||
> I lay upon the ground as upon a woman,
|
||||
> and the very air that surrounded me
|
||||
> seemed a thing as admirable as crystal and as fluid as wine.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Answer me, Severian."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "The first, if I have any."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "To the person of the monarch?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Yes, because there is no succession."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "The animal that rests beside you now would die for you.
|
||||
> Of what kind is his attachment to you?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "The first?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> There was no one there.
|
||||
> I sat up. Malrubius and Triskele had vanished,
|
||||
> yet my side felt faintly warm.
|
||||
|
||||
Severian assumes that the attachment developed most recently
|
||||
must be the "highest",
|
||||
but Malrubius points out that the bond between man and God,
|
||||
or between man and dog must surely be higher.
|
||||
|
||||
#### Lessons
|
||||
|
||||
These are lessons Severian attributes to Malrubius.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XIII - The Lictor of Thrax]]
|
||||
> hope is a psychological mechanism unaffected by external realities.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XXIV - The Flower of Dissolution]]
|
||||
> Urth's fires \[are\] long dead,
|
||||
> ...
|
||||
> it \[is\] more than possible
|
||||
> that they had cooled long before men had risen from the position of the beasts
|
||||
> to cumber her face with their cities.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1981_claw#XXII - Personifications]]
|
||||
> The rain we see in spring
|
||||
> is the same water we saw running the gutters the year before.
|
||||
|
||||
### The Claw of the Conciliator
|
||||
|
||||
It is helpful to analyze the claw as a character
|
||||
since its actions are not understood to be Severian's
|
||||
until very late in the series.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1982_citadel#VIII - The Pelerine]]
|
||||
> "It is a claw---" I began.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "That was only a flaw at the heart of the jewel.
|
||||
> The Conciliator was a man, Severian the Lictor,
|
||||
> and not a cat or a bird."
|
||||
|
||||
### Agia
|
||||
|
||||
In [[wolfe_1981_claw#VII - The Assassins]]
|
||||
Severian thwarts Agia's attempt at revenge,
|
||||
but spares her life.
|
||||
|
||||
### Dorcas
|
||||
|
||||
In [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XXII - Dorcas]] an unnamed old man
|
||||
is searching for his late wife Cas's body in the Lake of Birds.
|
||||
|
||||
Dorcas herself is not mentioned until she appears
|
||||
(from the water, out of nowhere)
|
||||
in the _next_ chapter.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XXIV - The Flower of Dissolution]]
|
||||
> Dorcas plucked a water hyacinth and put it in her hair.
|
||||
> Except for the vague spot of white on the bank some distance ahead,
|
||||
> it was the first flower I had seen in the Garden of Endless Sleep;
|
||||
> I looked for others, but saw none.
|
||||
|
||||
The hyacinth is a symbol of rebirth.
|
||||
Hyacinthus was a lover of Apollo,
|
||||
whom Apollo accidentally killed.
|
||||
Apollo created the hyacinth flower from the man's blood.
|
||||
|
||||
The biblical Dorcas was resurrected by Saint Peter
|
||||
after dying from illness.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!note] The Appearance of the Water Hyacinth
|
||||
> The previous quote leads immediately into a monologue
|
||||
> where Narrator Severian speculates on the potential for Urth's rebirth.
|
||||
> The lead-in is contrived
|
||||
> and the flower's appearance is terribly convenient,
|
||||
> I suspect some aspect of the telling
|
||||
> has been influenced by artistic license.
|
||||
|
||||
### Baldanders
|
||||
|
||||
### Jonas
|
||||
|
||||
Jonas is a space-faring man
|
||||
|
||||
He has a prosthetic hand,
|
||||
which may be accurately called "bionic"
|
||||
since it's only on close inspection
|
||||
that Severian notices it isn't simply a gauntlet.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1981_claw#XIII - The Claw of the Conciliator]]
|
||||
> "Where is this island?"
|
||||
>
|
||||
> He looked at me curiously.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Is it far from the coast?
|
||||
> I've always wanted to see Uroboros,
|
||||
> though I suppose it is dangerous."
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Very far," Jonas said in a flat voice.
|
||||
> "Very far indeed. Wait a moment."
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1981_claw#XVI - Jonas]]
|
||||
> He stirred and muttered,
|
||||
> "We must get power to the compressors before the air goes bad."
|
||||
|
||||
### Hethor
|
||||
|
||||
Also a spacefarer
|
||||
|
||||
### Ymar
|
||||
|
||||
Severian's predecessor to the autarchy.
|
||||
He takes several forms in Severian's narrative
|
||||
before they meet in truth.
|
||||
|
||||
Proprietor of the House Azure
|
||||
|
||||
## Creatures
|
||||
|
||||
### Khaibits
|
||||
|
||||
Khaibits are clones.
|
||||
|
||||
> [[wolfe_1982_citadel#XXIV - The Flier]]
|
||||
> They're khaibits, of course,
|
||||
> grown from the body cells of exultant women
|
||||
> so an exchange of blood will prolong the exultants' youth.
|
||||
|
||||
### Exultants
|
||||
|
||||
Exultants are people of especially noble houses
|
||||
that are considerably taller than baseline.
|
||||
|
||||
It is almost certain that exultants are baseline humans
|
||||
whose alien features are a result of the youth-extending procedures they undergo.
|
||||
The process as described by [[#Ymar]] has much in common
|
||||
with the one used by [[#Baldanders]]
|
||||
|
||||
## Symbols
|
||||
|
||||
### Teeth
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#VII - The Traitress]]
|
||||
> She had narrow, very white teeth in a wide mouth...
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#X - The Last Year]]
|
||||
> "That is well," Master Gurloes said,
|
||||
> and suddenly they both smiled,
|
||||
> Master Palaemon showing his few old crooked teeth,
|
||||
> and Master Gurloes his square yellow ones,
|
||||
> like the teeth of a dead nag.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1981_claw#XXIII - Jolenta]]
|
||||
> She smiled again, displaying perfect teeth.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XV - Baldanders]]
|
||||
> ...and so I asked \[Baldanders\] what his dreams had been,
|
||||
> though I was somewhat in awe of him.
|
||||
>
|
||||
> "Of caverns below, where stone teeth dripped blood ...
|
||||
> Of arms dismembered found on sanded paths,
|
||||
> and things that shook chains in the dark."
|
||||
> He sat at the edge of the bed,
|
||||
> cleaning sparse and surprisingly small teeth with one great finger.
|
||||
|
||||
> [!quote] [[wolfe_1987_urth#XLVII - The Sunken City]]
|
||||
> When I looked down again,
|
||||
> a yellowed skull lay at my feet, half-buried in the mud.
|
||||
> I picked it up; the lower jaw was gone,
|
||||
> but otherwise it was whole and showed no injury.
|
||||
> From its size and unworn teeth,
|
||||
> I guessed it to have been a boy's or a young man's.
|
||||
+22
-18
@@ -9,11 +9,15 @@ tags:
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
title: The Story of Ymar
|
||||
description: |
|
||||
An excerpt from Chapter 17 of _The Shadow of the Torturer_ by Gene Wolfe,
|
||||
An excerpt from _The Shadow of the Torturer_, Chapter 17 "The Challenge" by Gene Wolfe,
|
||||
with my analysis in comment blocks.
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Story of Ymar
|
||||
|
||||
%%
|
||||
From [[wolfe_1980_shadow#XVII - The Challenge]].
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
Now I begin again.
|
||||
It has been a long time
|
||||
(twice I have heard the guard changed outside my study door)
|
||||
@@ -29,10 +33,10 @@ I have spent weary days in reading the histories of my predecessors,
|
||||
and they consist of little but such accounts.
|
||||
For example, of Ymar:
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Severian is speaking of his predecessors _to the autarchy_.
|
||||
Without knowing this, Ymar and "the Autarch" read as separate characters.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
Without knowing this, Ymar and "the Autarch" may read as separate characters.
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
> Disguising himself, he ventured into the countryside,
|
||||
> where he spied a muni meditating beneath a plane tree.
|
||||
@@ -44,20 +48,20 @@ Without knowing this, Ymar and "the Autarch" read as separate characters.
|
||||
> and at last a dog trotted through the dust.
|
||||
> Ymar rose and followed the dog, laughing.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
- muni: An inspired or holy man; a sage; an ascetic or hermit.
|
||||
- oriflamme: A banner or standard.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
Supposing this anecdote to be true, how easy it is to explain:
|
||||
the Autarch had demonstrated that he chose his active life by an act of will,
|
||||
and not because of the seductions of the world.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Analysis 1:
|
||||
Ymar ignored the mortal pleasures of glory, wealth, and beauty
|
||||
~~simply for the sake of it.~~
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
But Thecla had had many teachers,
|
||||
each of whom would explain the same fact in a different way.
|
||||
@@ -65,11 +69,11 @@ Here, then, a second teacher might say
|
||||
that the Autarch was proof against those things that attract common men,
|
||||
but powerless to control his love of the hunt.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Analysis 2:
|
||||
Ymar ignored the mortal pleasures of glory, wealth, and beauty
|
||||
but broke for an equally base indulgence.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
And a third, that the Autarch wished to show his contempt for the muni,
|
||||
who had remained silent when he might have poured forth enlightenment and received more.
|
||||
@@ -79,11 +83,11 @@ Nor could he when the soldiers passed, nor the merchant with his wealth, nor the
|
||||
for unenlightened men desire all those things,
|
||||
and the muni would have thought him one more such man.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Analysis 3:
|
||||
Ymar ignored the mortal pleasures of glory, wealth, and beauty
|
||||
to prove to the wise man that he could resist temptation.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
And a fourth, that the Autarch accompanied the dog because it went forth alone,
|
||||
the soldiers having other soldiers,
|
||||
@@ -91,11 +95,11 @@ the merchant his mule and the mule his merchant,
|
||||
and the woman her slaves;
|
||||
while the muni did not go forth.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Analysis 4:
|
||||
Ymar wasn't ignoring the other travelers at all,
|
||||
only waiting for one to walk with.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
Yet why did Ymar laugh? Who shall say?
|
||||
Did the merchant follow the soldiers to buy their booty?
|
||||
@@ -107,9 +111,9 @@ Ymar is dead, and such memories of his
|
||||
as lived for a time in the blood of his successors
|
||||
are long faded.
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Severian is focused on details irrelevant to the parable.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
So mine in time shall fade too.
|
||||
Of this I feel sure: not one of the explanations for the behavior of Ymar was correct.
|
||||
@@ -145,8 +149,8 @@ though the rider is but some hitherto unguessed part of ourselves.
|
||||
Perhaps, indeed, that is the explanation of the story of Ymar.
|
||||
Who can say?
|
||||
|
||||
<!--
|
||||
%%
|
||||
Analysis 5:
|
||||
Ymar ignored the other travelers but left with the dog
|
||||
on a passing interest.
|
||||
-->
|
||||
%%
|
||||
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
id:
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- shadow of the torturer
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- authorship/other
|
||||
- destiny/permanent
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
- type/media
|
||||
type: book
|
||||
title: The Shadow of the Torturer
|
||||
author: Gene Wolfe
|
||||
year: 1980
|
||||
series: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Shadow of the Torturer
|
||||
|
||||
## I - Resurrection and Death
|
||||
|
||||
## II - Severian
|
||||
|
||||
## III - The Autarch's Face
|
||||
|
||||
## IV - Triskele
|
||||
|
||||
## V - The Picture-Cleaner and Others
|
||||
|
||||
## VI - The Master of the Curators
|
||||
|
||||
## VII - The Traitress
|
||||
|
||||
## VIII - The Conversationalist
|
||||
|
||||
## IX - The House Azure
|
||||
|
||||
## X - The Last Year
|
||||
|
||||
## XI - The Feast
|
||||
|
||||
## XII - The Traitor
|
||||
|
||||
## XIII - The Lictor of Thrax
|
||||
|
||||
## XIV - Terminus Est
|
||||
|
||||
## XV - Baldanders
|
||||
|
||||
## XVI - The Rag Shop
|
||||
|
||||
## XVII - The Challenge
|
||||
|
||||
## XVIII - The Destruction of the Altar
|
||||
|
||||
## XIX - The Botanic Gardens
|
||||
|
||||
## XX - Father Inire's Mirrors
|
||||
|
||||
## XXI - The Hut in the Jungle
|
||||
|
||||
## XXII - Dorcas
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIII - Hildegrin
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIV - The Flower of Dissolution
|
||||
|
||||
## XXV - The Inn of Lost Loves
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVI - Sennet
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - Is He Dead?
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVIII - Carnifex
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIX - Agilus
|
||||
|
||||
## XXX - Night
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXI - The Shadow of the Torturer
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXII - The Play
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIII - Five Legs
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIV - Morning
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXV - Hethor
|
||||
|
||||
## Appendix
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
id:
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- claw of the conciliator
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- authorship/other
|
||||
- destiny/permanent
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
- type/media
|
||||
type: book
|
||||
title: The Claw of the Conciliator
|
||||
author: Gene Wolfe
|
||||
year: 1981
|
||||
series: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Claw of the Conciliator
|
||||
|
||||
## I - The Village of Saltus
|
||||
|
||||
## II - The Man in the Dark
|
||||
|
||||
## III - The Showman's Tent
|
||||
|
||||
## IV - The Bouquet
|
||||
|
||||
## V - The Bourne
|
||||
|
||||
## VI - Blue Light
|
||||
|
||||
## VII - The Assassins
|
||||
|
||||
## VIII - The Cultellarii
|
||||
|
||||
## IX - The Liege of Leaves
|
||||
|
||||
## X - Thea
|
||||
|
||||
## XI - Thecla
|
||||
|
||||
## XII - The Notules
|
||||
|
||||
## XIII - The Claw of the Conciliator
|
||||
|
||||
## XIV - The Antechamber
|
||||
|
||||
## XV - Fool's Fire
|
||||
|
||||
## XVI - Jonas
|
||||
|
||||
## XVII - The Tale of the Student and His Son
|
||||
|
||||
### Part I - The Redoubt of the Magicians
|
||||
|
||||
### Part II - The Fleshing of the Hero
|
||||
|
||||
### Part III - The Encounter with the Princess
|
||||
|
||||
### Part IV - The Battle with the Ogre
|
||||
|
||||
### Part V - The Death of the Student
|
||||
|
||||
## XVIII - Mirrors
|
||||
|
||||
## XIX - Closets
|
||||
|
||||
## XX - Pictures
|
||||
|
||||
## XXI - Hydromancy
|
||||
|
||||
## XXII - Personifications
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIII - Jolenta
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIV - Dr. Talos's Play: Eschatology and Genesis
|
||||
|
||||
## XXV - The Attack on the Hierodules
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVI - Parting
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - Toward Thrax
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVIII - The Odalisque of Abaia
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIX - The Herdsmen
|
||||
|
||||
## XXX - The Badger Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXI - The Cleansing
|
||||
|
||||
## Appendixes
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
id:
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- sword of the lictor
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- authorship/other
|
||||
- destiny/permanent
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
- type/media
|
||||
type: book
|
||||
title: The Sword of the Lictor
|
||||
author: Gene Wolfe
|
||||
year: 1981
|
||||
series: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Sword of the Lictor
|
||||
|
||||
## I - Master of the House of Chains
|
||||
|
||||
## II - Upon the Cataract
|
||||
|
||||
## III - Outside the Jacal
|
||||
|
||||
## IV - In the Bartizan of the Vincula
|
||||
|
||||
## V - Cyriaca
|
||||
|
||||
## VI - The Library of the Citadel
|
||||
|
||||
## VII - Attractions
|
||||
|
||||
## VIII - Upon the Cliff
|
||||
|
||||
## IX - The Salamander
|
||||
|
||||
## X - Lead
|
||||
|
||||
## XI - The Hand of the Past
|
||||
|
||||
## XII - Following the Flood
|
||||
|
||||
## XIII - Into the Mountains
|
||||
|
||||
## XIV - The Widow's House
|
||||
|
||||
## XV - He Is Ahead of You!
|
||||
|
||||
## XVI - The Alzabo
|
||||
|
||||
## XVII - The Sword of the Lictor
|
||||
|
||||
## XVIII - Severian and Severian
|
||||
|
||||
## XIX - The Tale of the Boy Called Frog
|
||||
|
||||
## Part I Early Summer and Her Son
|
||||
|
||||
## Part II How Frog Found a New Mother
|
||||
|
||||
## Part III The Black Killer's Gold
|
||||
|
||||
## Part IV The Plowing of the Fish
|
||||
|
||||
## XX - The Circle of the Sorcerers
|
||||
|
||||
## XXI - The Duel of Magic
|
||||
|
||||
## XXII - The Skirts of the Mountain
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIII - The Cursed Town
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIV - The Corpse
|
||||
|
||||
## XXV - Typhon and Piaton
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVI - The Eyes of the World
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - On High Paths
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVIII - The Hetman's Dinner
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIX - The Hetman's Boat
|
||||
|
||||
## XXX - Natrium
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXI - The People of the Lake
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXII - To the Castle
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIII - Ossipago, Barbatus, and Famulimus
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIV - Masks
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXV - The Signal
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVI - The Fight in the Bailey
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVII - Terminus Est
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVIII - The Claw
|
||||
|
||||
## Appendix - A Note on Provincial Administration
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
id:
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- citadel of the autarch
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- authorship/other
|
||||
- destiny/permanent
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
- type/media
|
||||
type: book
|
||||
title: The Citadel of the Autarch
|
||||
author: Gene Wolfe
|
||||
year: 1982
|
||||
series: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Citadel of the Autarch
|
||||
|
||||
## I - The Dead Soldier
|
||||
|
||||
## II - The Living Soldier
|
||||
|
||||
## III - Through Dust
|
||||
|
||||
## IV - Fever
|
||||
|
||||
## V - The Lazaret
|
||||
|
||||
## VI - Miles, Foila, Melito, and Hallvard
|
||||
|
||||
## VII - Hallvard's Story---The Two Sealers
|
||||
|
||||
## VIII - The Pelerine
|
||||
|
||||
## IX - Melito's Story---The Cock, the Angel, and the Eagle
|
||||
|
||||
## X - Ava
|
||||
|
||||
## XI - Loyal to the Group of Seventeen's Story---The Just Man
|
||||
|
||||
## XII - Winnoc
|
||||
|
||||
## XIII - Foila's Story---The Armiger's Daughter
|
||||
|
||||
## XIV - Mannea
|
||||
|
||||
## XV - The Last House
|
||||
|
||||
## XVI - The Anchorite
|
||||
|
||||
## XVII - Ragnarok---The Final Winter
|
||||
|
||||
## XVIII - Foila's Request
|
||||
|
||||
## XIX - Guasacht
|
||||
|
||||
## XX - Patrol
|
||||
|
||||
## XXI - Deployment
|
||||
|
||||
## XXII - Battle
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIII - The Pelagic Argosy Sights Land
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIV - The Flier
|
||||
|
||||
## XXV - The Mercy of Agia
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVI - Above the Jungle
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - Before Vodalus
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVIII - On the March
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIX - Autarch of the Commonwealth
|
||||
|
||||
## XXX - The Corridors of Time
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXI - The Sand Garden
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXII - The Samru
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIII - The Citadel of the Autarch
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIV - The Key to the Universe
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXV - Father Inire's Letter
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVI - Of Bad Gold and Burning
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVII - Across the River Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVIII - Resurrection
|
||||
|
||||
## Appendix - The Arms of the Autarch and the Ships of the Hierodules
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
id:
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- urth of the new sun
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- authorship/other
|
||||
- destiny/permanent
|
||||
- exclude-from-word-count
|
||||
- type/media
|
||||
type: book
|
||||
title: The Urth of the New Sun
|
||||
author: Gene Wolfe
|
||||
year: 1987
|
||||
series: The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
---
|
||||
# The Urth of the New Sun
|
||||
|
||||
## Dedication
|
||||
|
||||
## Epigraph
|
||||
|
||||
## I - The Mainmast
|
||||
|
||||
## II - The Fifth Sailor
|
||||
|
||||
## III - The Cabin
|
||||
|
||||
## IV - The Citizens of the Sails
|
||||
|
||||
## V - The Hero and the Hierodules
|
||||
|
||||
## VI - A Death and the Dark
|
||||
|
||||
## VII - A Death in the Light
|
||||
|
||||
## VIII - The Empty Sleeve
|
||||
|
||||
## IX - The Empty Air
|
||||
|
||||
## X - Interlude
|
||||
|
||||
## XI - Skirmish
|
||||
|
||||
## XII - The Semblance
|
||||
|
||||
## XIII - The Battles
|
||||
|
||||
## XIV - The End of the Universe
|
||||
|
||||
## XV - Yesod
|
||||
|
||||
## XVI - The Epitome
|
||||
|
||||
## XVII - The Isle
|
||||
|
||||
## XVIII - The Examination
|
||||
|
||||
## XIX - Silence
|
||||
|
||||
## XX - The Coiled Room
|
||||
|
||||
## XXI - Tzadkiel
|
||||
|
||||
## XXII - Descent
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIII - The Ship
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIV - The Captain
|
||||
|
||||
## XXV - Passion and the Passageway
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVI - Gunnie and Burgundofara
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - The Return to Urth
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVIII - The Village Beside the Stream
|
||||
|
||||
## XXIX - Among the Villagers
|
||||
|
||||
## XXX - Ceryx
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXI - Zama
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXII - To the Alcyone
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIII - Aboard the Alcyone
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIV - Saltus Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXV - Nessus Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVI - The Citadel Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XXVII - The Book of the New Sun
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXVIII - To the Tomb of the Monarch
|
||||
|
||||
## XXXIX - The Claw of the Conciliator Again
|
||||
|
||||
## XL - The Brook Beyond Briah
|
||||
|
||||
## XLI - Severian from His Cenotaph
|
||||
|
||||
## XLII - Ding, Dong, Ding!
|
||||
|
||||
## XLIII - The Evening Tide
|
||||
|
||||
## XLIV - The Morning Tide
|
||||
|
||||
## XLV - The Boat
|
||||
|
||||
## XLVI - The Runaway
|
||||
|
||||
## XLVII - The Sunken City
|
||||
|
||||
## XLVIII - Old Lands and New
|
||||
|
||||
## XLIX - Apu-Punchau
|
||||
|
||||
## L - Darkness in the House of Day
|
||||
|
||||
## LI - The Urth of the New Sun
|
||||
|
||||
## Appendix - The Miracle of Apu-Punchau
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user