(urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine

[David Stockhoff]

Whether Wolfe ever met Borges or not, I'm sure it was a great desire of his to do so. And who wouldn't want to overhear THAT conversation?

Even so, it strikes me more as a homage than anything else: the young book-loving apprentice meeting the grand master lurking like the Minotaur in his labyrinth. Recall Ultan gives Severian the "Book of the Wonders of Urth and Sky." Ultan is like a sorcerer or a god of the underworld.

But I have no doubt there are many Borges-inspired games in BotNS.

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Message: 3
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 16:07:26 -0400
From: b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com>
Subject: (urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine
To: <urth at urth.net>
Message-ID: <COL109-W6FFEC8AFA0135B5451095D7840 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

 

but also,
 
I don't suppose all Wolfe's protagonists function as the author's
avatars but some do, and surely Severian. I can't help but see the
meeting of Severian and Ultan as part of a fantasy of Wolfe to meet
with Jorge Luis Borges. Two avatars feeling dead together in a book
could be the mirror image of two live guys meeting in the real world. 
Perhaps it wasn't just a fantasy and Wolfe really did meet Borges in 
his library in Buenos Aires and that S. American trip provided much 
of the inspiration for BotNS.
 
ah, I dunno...
 
-bsharp
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