Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 10:13:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Michael Straight 
Subject: Re: (urth) Wash Post article

On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, [iso-8859-1] Nicholas Gevers wrote:

> The matter of 5HC as entry point into Wolfe: yes, it's
> a difficult and dispiriting book; but where else can
> one find Wolfe at full power within a single novel?

I agree.  Wasn't Wolfe already being hailed as a genius for 5HC before
people had even read any of the New Sun books?

> And 5HC's place in the Briah Cycle: 
> Three double world
> systems--Urth/Lune, St Croix/St Anne, and
> Blue/Green--are in close thematic correspondence

I mostly agree with this.  One of the main reasons I dislike the Urth=Blue
theory is that I prefer to think of the double planets more as a
reoccuring theme than a literal correspondence.

But I also note that lumping Urth/Lune in with the others is a bit out of
place.  While in the other two pairs, both planets are important settings
for the story, in the New Sun books, Lune is hardly more prominent than
Verthandi or Skuld.

-Rostrum


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