(urth) Ultan's Library Shadows of the New Sun Interviews

[David Stockhoff]

On 6/19/2013 4:55 PM, Andrew Mason wrote:
> Lee Berman wrote:
>
>
>     (p.s. Heh, be careful! In one interview, Gene Wolfe was explicit
>     in specifying
>     Aphrodite as the sex goddess, not the love goddess, along with
>     Ares as a soldier
>     god rather than the god of war. I assume that has significance to
>     his work.)
>
>
> True: yet the Whorl goddess Kypris, whose name derives from a title of 
> Aphrodite, is certainly a love goddess and not just a sex goddess. 
> (She inspires Mint, for instance, with love of the city.) I would 
> guess this is an example of the Wolfean theme of people growing into 
> their assigned roles; if enough people see her as a love goddess, that 
> is what she will be.
>

Yes, and sex-to-love has plain implications in terms of personal as well 
as cultural maturity, not to mention closeness-to-God.