From: "cilluff1@optonline.net" 
Subject: RE: (urth) New Wolfe online
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 11:10:48 -0500

Charles Reed wrote:

<<1) The castaway says, "We could have saved her=2E Earlier=2E We could ha=
ve=20
made her young again=2E We could have taken her away=2E We could have done=
=20
it=2E Nothing stopping us=2E" But later on he says, "But it was all over f=
or=20
her, and she knew it=2E We never wanted to help her=2E We never wanted to=20=

save her, and now we couldn't if we wanted to=2E It's too late=2E Too late=
=20
=2E=2E=2E"  So=2E  How could she have been saved?  How much earlier is he=20=

talking about?  Is he talking about a future Earth (or Urth) where the=20
New Sun doesn't come, and is the New Sun the way she could have been
saved?>>

Although of course there's always the temptation to try to place any Wolfe=

work in an Urth context (and I also wondered if this was Urth, although I
thought that if this was Urth it was post New Sun, that we had repeated th=
e
cycle, although I do like your "alternate history" theory), I finally
thought that this was a (mostly) straight-forward allegory about treating
Gaia, Mother Earth, properly=2E  We could have saved her by acting with mo=
re
forethought instead of repeating the tragedy of the commons on a global
scale=2E =20

As for the "underground humans" issue, I do actually read that snippet as
suggesting that it is indeed humans or post-humans (shades of Morlocks)
living underground, devouring the mother we killed even after she is dead=2E=
=20
Mostly I feel this because that quote seemed to have a connotation of
blame, that those living underground, cast as maggots, were blameworthy fo=
r
her death, which would pretty much have to be humans unless Pierre Boulle
was right and monkeys take over the planet=2E

- Shell

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