From: douge@nti.com (Doug Eigsti)
Subject: Re: (whorl) Voided Cross
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 09:35:32 


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

Rostrum writes:
> 
> If this shape isn't the one Wolfe had in mind, it ought to be :-), I was
> just trying to puzzle out his answer.
> 
> Maybe he didn't have a specific shape in mind, but rather wanted to invoke
> both the voided cross and the swastika, even if they are contradictory.
> 
	I would say you are onto something. My concept of Wolfe is that 
he likes to create scenarios where several, possibly contradictory, 
results are possible. The classic example is SEVEN AMERICAN NIGHTS; Which 
egg, if any, contained the hallucinogen? This kind of mind game is what 
makes Wolfe so appealing to me. To pin down his text to mean any specific 
thing is to limit our enjoyment. An open ended problem stays in the mind 
longer while we continue to ponder a solution. If my mind reaches closure 
on a topic I tend to put it aside, whereas an unsolved mystery stays in 
active memory to be called up when triggered by other related thoughts, 
to be relived time and again.

=Talon=