(urth) 17 megatherians

Adam Thornton adam at io.com
Thu May 18 20:14:13 PDT 2006


On May 18, 2006, at 8:30 PM, b sharp wrote:
> There are theories on why the number 17 might be important as a  
> significant
> and/or evil number to Gene Wolfe in BotNS.  Because Noah's flood  
> happened on
> 'February' 17?  Because Gene Wolf was in the 17th company (or some  
> other
> military division) in Korea? These aren't compelling to me.

It's the number used to mean "infinite" by the Minotaur in the Borges  
story "The House of Asterion."

"Group of Seventeen" thus becomes "Everyone"--quite literally The  
Will of The People.

Adam



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