who-is-severian

[who-is-severian]

2: severian

This chapter seemed to me to be an interesting look into how Severian thinks of himself. He is isolated from the world, isolated from any people that could have potentially been his lived ones (parents), and knows it.

He hides out in the mausoleum, describes himself as “the ragged apprentice boy I was”, and describes the outside world in isolating ways.

I think the mausoleum is especially interesting because he is inside this thick heavy building, looking around him for someone he can relate to familialy, and is looking through a barred window and ajar door at the beautiful nature outside.

I also enjoyed the drowning section, and I’m sure there will be more there that I will find when I listen to the podcast episode.

I do wonder who the woman was, it seems likely that it’s his mother, and it can’t be Thea (whom he seemed so enamored with) because he hasn’t met her at this point.

[who-is-severian]

1: resurrection and death

As all first chapters are, this is interesting to dissect. It starts with Severian soaking wet after almost drowning, locked outside of a graveyard. We learn that Severian is a torturers apprentice, and is among a group of fellow members of the torturers guild. They are trying to get into the graveyard, saying that they are physicians gallipots and that they need herbs.

Now obviously, this is at least partly a lie. Though I’m not sure if it’s clear or if I was able to gleam what they were actually there for.

The locals are trying to protect their dead from some people that keep stealing them. Severian runs into these people (literally) and meets Vodalus for the first time, sees some very explicit violence that he is enamored with, and is given an explicitly symbolic coin.

I think the ending of this chapter is really interesting because of the admiration that we see Severian have for Vodalus. It demonstrates how young he is at the moment, and his ease around violence and even admiration of it.

We also see the coin that Vodalus gives Severian and the discussion of symbols. While I do agree with the fact that symbols can define us, I think it’s interesting that Severian says “I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know if such things to be influenced by them”

Despite the fact that he mentions that reality is only made of what we perceive, he believes that we do not need to perceive a symbols such as the coin to be affected by them.

In the last paragraph, we get a look to the future. We learn of some of Vodalus’ ideas and we also learn of how far the in future Severian is writing of this, since he mentions that he backs into the throne. This might mean that despite his supposedly perfect memory, this was a long time ago and there are going to be errors and unreliable facts.

Overall, this has been interesting to me personally because for the first time ever reading first person, I am thinking less of the narrator as the truth-teller and my entry to the story, but as a character separate to myself, full of flaws and intricacies that aren’t explicitly told to you.

Dunno if all of that made sense, it was probably repetitive, but I’ll figure out the format as I do this more.

[who-is-severian]

the path of the new sun by ada palmer

This introduction, copywritten in 2021, was a great read. The writing was interesting and descriptive, and I feel that I have a good sense for what my “path” with the new sun will be. The references to other books demonstrates a depth of knowledge, and the descriptions effectively share that knowledge with the reader.

I’m glad that this introduction shows the reader what Wolfe’s world will be like to encounter, and I am glad to know that I must rely on the mutual trust between author and reader, experience these new things without context, and enjoy the dissection and journey of plot and character that this book is full of.

[who-is-severian]

Hello! My name is River and this will be my intro post for this blog :)

My dad has read the entirety of The Book of the New Sun, as well as Gene Wolfe’s other books in the universe. (I think all of them but I’m not positive).

As he has read them and listened to the podcast Alzabo Soup, I have heard him talk about it and listened to many podcast episodes without any context. Hence, I have become interested.

I’ve always been a reader, as both my parents are very passionate about it and it has always been around me. I read Harry Potter many many times, lots of sci fi, and plenty of other books throughout my childhood.

This blog will hopefully be something I stick to, which helps me stick to the books, and I will hopefully be commenting on each chapter as I read.

I’ll figure out a tagging system, probably by book and chapter?

Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope somebody will be able to appreciate the depth of Gene Wolfe’s stories with me :)