(urth) Shapeshifting Evidence and Principles

[Tristan Davenport]

Dan'l wrote:
>(Perhaps more problematic: Wolfe seems to have it clearly fixed in
>his mind that the Solar books take place in a previous "cycle" of the
>universe, and not in our "future" at all. If that's the case, then it might
>be argued that the Solar books are in 5HC's _past_, assuming of
>course that 5HC is in our possible future.

Now I'm curious about this business of cycles.  How closely does Wolfe's 
universe repeat itself cycle after cycle?  I'm asking because this puts me 
in mind of one of Silk's enlightenments in BotLS.  He's given a vision of 
Jesus very close to what's described in the Bible -- riding in on the ass, 
people waving green branches, etc.  This suggests to me that the Sun series 
takes place in *our* future.  An equally compelling bit of evidence occurs 
when Silk is talking to someone (Horn?) about life in other cities in the 
whorl.  He mentions that foreigners often speak other languages, including 
(and he names it specifically) French.  In BotNS, an ancient language is 
represented by Latin, but it's never called "Latin" in the text.  Is this 
mentioning of French a goof-up on Wolfe's part, or a clear reference to our 
own epoch?  Excuse the lack of page/volume references.

One more question: Does the wedding ring given by Silk to Hyacinth (in 
Exodus, I think) depict the face of an avern?

                             Tristan
                             tristan_davenport at hotmail.com