(urth) Lupiverse(s) was Re: The Wizard

[David Stockhoff]

On 3/12/2012 1:39 AM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
> On 3/11/2012 11:16 PM, Craig Brewer wrote:
>
>> So my real question here is how sure we are that Urth isn't just Earth
>> in the future, our future? (And if I'm just completely overlooking
>> something obvious, my apologies, especially if it's in _Urth of the
>> NS_...that's always been the slipperiest one to me.)
>
> I believe it was originally written that way, but the drowning of Urth 
> makes it seem as if the G-d of Noah has broken His promise to never 
> again destroy the earth by water. Narratively, aliens did it, but it's 
> clear that the narrator understands the hand of God is behind all 
> events, so it's still God doing the destroying. This would make it a 
> blasphemous text, except that after URTH came out, Wolfe said he 
> considered Urth to be in a previous creation cycle than our Earth, 
> which sounds like butt-covering after the fact to me.
>
> Not that I blame him. It would be a damn shame for such a magnificent 
> story to be marginalized or even withdrawn because of an innocent 
> mistake on the part of the author. Literature becomes great in spite 
> of its flaws, not from their absence.
>
When you say "originally," do you mean during the writing of the first 
volume? Where in the narration do you think the idea evolved that Urth 
may be in the past?

Urth of the New Sun certainly seems to allow (or even prove) a 
"theologized" past Urth, while Shadow seems to be straight out of Vance. 
I am sure Wolfe's concerns evolved as he wrote New Sun---he says as much.