I think it's pretty universally agreed upon that Severian lies throughout the text, and has been acknowledged by Wolfe.
I would love a citation of this, as the only comments I can find by Wolfe on the subject are things like, " No. He is a Christian figure, which is different. He is trying to become Christ-like. He is basically what practically all of us who are men are, he is a bad man trying to be good. He makes progress as the books progress. He becomes a better person, and a larger person in a spiritual sense. But no, he is not a Christ figure. At least he never was to me."
There are plenty of people out there who will say he lies to you, but I have yet to find anyone willing to give an an example of a particular point where he is lying. Most of the case - even by supposedly serious critics - comes in the form of silliness like, "We see him occasionally lie to other characters! Also, he claims to have special powers! And there are some incidents where he recounts something that could be interpreted as foreshadowing an event, and that could be interpreted as claiming precognition, and that is highly dubious!"
If you're talking about the first time they had sex, she certainly wasn't. What other time did you have in mind?
Sorry, I should've been clearer. I meant that Dorcas cries after he has his way with Jolenta.
I certainly agree that the world described embodies Medieval attitudes towards women, along with Medieval attitudes towards torture, class, and religion, and Severian shares those values at least for most of the series. But that's not the same at all as saying that he actually raped someone.
Jolenta was asleep for at least the start of it, so I don't think it'd be going too far to call it rape.
So Gene Wolfe died. This was the first thread I made in D&D a decade ago, made in the midst of re-reading this series for maybe the fourth time. It remains almost certainly my favourite book, and Wolfe my favourite writer.
He hadn’t released any new books since his wife, Rosemary, passed away, so the writing was on the wall, but it’s still a devastating loss for literature and SF and fantasy in particular.
Ursula Le Guin, another giant who recently passed away, called him “our Melville”. Neil Gaiman called him “the best of us”, and Michael Swanwick thought he was the greatest living writer in the English language.
I’m going to miss the anticipation of a new book by him terribly, but I guess re-reading everything he wrote will have to do.
Damn, that's a loss. This thread inspired me to pick up the Long Sun set so long ago and I loved it then as I did more with each subsequent read. :sad:
Damn. He will be missed. All I've read is The Book of the New Sun and The Book of the Long Sun. New Sun was unlike any book I've read and is one of the most enjoyable and interesting experiences I've had reading. Long Sun was awesome too, though less "wtf." I have Short Sun sitting here, I should start it.
Noooooo! Damn, I was hoping this was bumped for happier occasions. I'm currently in the midst of the 3rd book in the New Sun series and I absolutely love it. I don't get as much reading time as I used to so the series has been a long term project, but it is super unique and Wolfe deserves a lot more recognition than he has. I first heard of the series in some random comment thread on a videogame blog, and still haven't met another nerd in person who's heard of him.
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I would love a citation of this, as the only comments I can find by Wolfe on the subject are things like, " No. He is a Christian figure, which is different. He is trying to become Christ-like. He is basically what practically all of us who are men are, he is a bad man trying to be good. He makes progress as the books progress. He becomes a better person, and a larger person in a spiritual sense. But no, he is not a Christ figure. At least he never was to me."
There are plenty of people out there who will say he lies to you, but I have yet to find anyone willing to give an an example of a particular point where he is lying. Most of the case - even by supposedly serious critics - comes in the form of silliness like, "We see him occasionally lie to other characters! Also, he claims to have special powers! And there are some incidents where he recounts something that could be interpreted as foreshadowing an event, and that could be interpreted as claiming precognition, and that is highly dubious!"
Jolenta was asleep for at least the start of it, so I don't think it'd be going too far to call it rape.
He hadn’t released any new books since his wife, Rosemary, passed away, so the writing was on the wall, but it’s still a devastating loss for literature and SF and fantasy in particular.
Ursula Le Guin, another giant who recently passed away, called him “our Melville”. Neil Gaiman called him “the best of us”, and Michael Swanwick thought he was the greatest living writer in the English language.
I’m going to miss the anticipation of a new book by him terribly, but I guess re-reading everything he wrote will have to do.
RIP Gene Wolfe.
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