21–22 of 22 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I did not stick around to read it all, the first hint of a spoiler sent me back here to warn others. Neil knows the material really well, he wrote the introduction to the recent limited edition of The Book of the New Sun for the Folio Society for example, so I should have trusted him not to blow it.
This article is that introduction.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't think Wolfe is trying to present him as good, which would be hard to swallow. This is written entirely from Severian's viewpoint, not Wolfe's. And yet we’re made to swallow the fact that he’s an exceptionally good person, an amazing leader whome people follow with no afterthought, and the Chosen One who brings the era of the New Sun.
> And yet we’re made to swallow the fact that he’s an exceptionally good person Are we? Wolfe has stated in interviews that Severian is not supposed to be seen as a good person, but rather a deeply flawed one. > an amazing leader whome people follow with no afterthought Severian only starts to draw a following once he becomes autarch, and then people aren’t following him as much as the office (or the effects of the o…
Doesn't matter what he said in interviews. The third book is full to the brim with with thin hints or outright "we knew you were special, so we were searching for you high and low".
> Severian only starts to draw a following once he becomes autarch
Re-read the entire attack on Baldanders' castle. "The people naturally follow me" and all that.
> Did you go on to read The Urth of the New Sun?
I didn't and after the Book of the New Sun I frankly don't want to touch anything by Wolfe :)
> a well-established literary genre that goes back many centuries (the picaresque).
"picaresque: relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero."
The main problem is that Severian is anything but appealing.