(urth) Calde of the Long Sun and Learning to Read Wolfe

[Son of Witz]

Just finished Calde of the Long Sun.
what a read!
I haven't searched the list yet, in order to avoid spoilers,but I can't find anything to define "Calde".
I'm not clear if Calde is a higher office than Prolocutor.
Obviously it's the theocratic civil ruler, but I'm not clear on the hierarchy.
Is Calde like a Bishop/Mayor or a Pope/Emperor?  the book doesn't exactly make it clear.  The fact that it's specific to Viron makes me think it's like a Bishop/Mayor role, and that the Prolocutor is the equivalent to a Pope for the whole whorl.  
any help?

thanks
~witz


 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ken Rutsky [mailto:rkenneth at nycap.rr.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 02:56 PM
>To: ''The Urth Mailing List''
>Subject: Re: (urth) Calde of the Long Sun and Learning to Read Wolfe
>
>That's a great point.  I wonder if Loris saying "Is this germane?" during
>the last scene of Calde is a humorous way of hinting at this mode of
>writing/reading.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: urth-bounces at lists.urth.net [mailto:urth-bounces at lists.urth.net] On
>Behalf Of Michael Straight
>Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:39 PM
>To: The Urth Mailing List
>Subject: Re: (urth) Calde of the Long Sun and Learning to Read Wolfe
>
>For me, one of the most important keys to enjoying Wolfe's work is to
>let him take you where he wants to go.  He's constantly doing this
>bait-and-switch, leading you up to some exciting event, making you
>want to see it, then taking you aside to listen instead to some
>conversation that is (at least at first glance) completely unrelated.
>You chafe, feeling like you're missing the real story.  But the key is
>- you are not.  That thing you're missing is a distraction, a
>magician's trick.  This conversation here is the real story.  Don't
>miss it.
>
>- Rostrum
>
>On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 6:10 AM, Ken Rutsky <rkenneth at nycap.rr.com> wrote:
>> Just finished book 3 of the Long Sun.  I am dazzled by this work, more
>than
>> I was with the New Sun books.
>>
>>
>>
>> I suppose some of it has to do with learning how to "read" Wolfe, which I
>> believe I'm just starting to do.  Now, I'm not a dullard; my degree is in
>> English and my favorite writers include Borges, late-period Samuel Delany,
>> Nabokov.a lot of "lit snob" stuff.  However, I've little background in
>> studying the Bible, which I'm realizing is key to Wolfe's work, and is
>> something I'm rectifying on my own.  In addition, I am getting better at
>> spotting massive revelations about the book's characters and the Whorl
>> itself in casual, almost throwaway asides and oblique references; in
>> particular, I was blown away by learning who Blood's father is in the last
>> pages of this volume.  Having had these insights into his style, I'll have
>> to go back and re-read New Sun in the future.
>>
>>
>>
>> On to volume four!  I can't wait to comb through the list archives to read
>> past discussions on this series.  I've been very impressed with what I've
>> read here so far.
>>
>>
>>
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