(urth) This Week in Google Alerts: more _Land Across_

[Lee]

>Gerry Quinn: Hmm, if we are to assume it was a black bean, it would not make him the 
>nicest kind of supernatural being!  [I'm assuming that the story of the 
>black beans cast into the sea in BotNS is meant to refer to the origin of 
>Abaia, Erebus and the rest.]

With recognition of the lightheartedness of this reply, I truly do not think that Gene
Wolfe considers himself to be the "nicest" of people.

I haven't met him in person but I know he is often described as "genial". Still in the
tone of some of his answers to direct questions, I know he has a sharp side. But these
are all external judgements anyway.

I find Wolfe's self-assessments best exemplified in his most autobiographical characters
(Weer, Severian and Horn, imho). In these characters I find self-criticism which goes
beyond acknowledgement of imperfection and which drifts toward true confession and self-
condemnation.

Moreover, if the role of author may be considered as demiurgical creator, as has been
discussed in other threads, perhaps the comparison of Wolfe himself to giant god-like
monsters is apt. If "black beans" hold the origin of "Abaia, Erebus and the rest", then
Scylla must be included and thus, by extension, Typhon/Pas and Echidna (whom I find 
difficult to disconnect from The Cumaean).