From: "Alice Turner" <al@interport.net>
Subject: (whorl) X?
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 10:06:48 


[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]


Ratty,

I define a Christian as someone who believes that he or she will attain
eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. Severian has never heard of Jesus
Christ, and he himself has brought salvation (through destruction) to Urth.
How does that make him a Christian (please don't cite Wolfe's interview
since he isn't here to defend what he actually meant, and I think we'd
agree that he is tricky)? Perhaps you are using Christian in the
old-fashioned sense of being a good person, or "one of us." I can't accept
that, having known many good people of other faiths (or none). I can accept
Severian as a Christ avatar, however. 

(This really belongs in the other group, doesn't it?)

mantis,

May I have one of my four questions that didn't get used? Not the one about
Hy's scarf---it's easy to see that only straightforward questions work. You
can choose---want me to e-mail them?

-alga-