(urth) The Guild's Revolutionary

[Gwern Branwen]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 9:00 AM, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> For instance, I was all aboard the "Nessus is Buenos Aires" train when
>> I read _BotNS_ first at 13 or 14, because I was also in the throes of a
>> Borges phase and Master Ultan was obviously, clearly, no question
>> about it, Borges.  Same with "Baldanders."
>> Later I found out this might be controversial.
>
> I've always thought the Borges=Ultan theory was tenuous. Not impossible,
> just not much supporting it beyond Utlan's blindness. Borges is a great
> writer, but other than "The Book of Imaginary Beings" which cites the
> Baldanders, I haven't noted much influence from him. Of course, that might
> be due to a deficiency in my Borges knowledge.

Well, besides all the many gobsmackingly obvious parallels, I believe
Wolfe in interviews has said as much (I'm sure I've read him say
Ultan=Borges in some of the interviews in _Shadows of the New Sun_,
although I'm not sure which one of my photocopies has it).

-- 
gwern