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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><BR><BR>>
> Gerry Quinn: How could they *not* be in a unique
arrangement?<BR> <BR>> > Gerry Quinn: I agree that Wolfe had the
option of not citing specific numbers<BR> <BR>> Yes, you have answered
your own question. And Wolfe most often takes that route<BR>> relying on a
description of "gnostic" or "teratoid" symbols non-specific adjectives<BR>>
to convey to his readers that the protagonist is seeing symbols he (and we) are
<BR>> not expected to understand the specifics of, only the nature
of.</DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">And
if he next turns his hand to rewriting BotNS as a graphic novel, what will he do
then? He will draw appropriate symbols, I think.</DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">In
text, however, it is easy to cite numbers, while it is hard to describe such a
teratoid symbol exactly. So it is not surprising that they do
not.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><BR>> > If they have a deeper significance,
it is a game that Wolfe is playing with his readers, <BR>> >and he hasn’t
set it up very well.<BR> <BR>> This wouldn't be the first example of
that. UotNS was not planned when Wolfe wrote BotNS.<BR>> Therefore Wolfe
expected all the mystery solutions revealed in UotNS to be soluble
without<BR>> that book. But they aren't. At least not by the readers who have
published their interpretations<BR>> in books or online. Plus we have the
example of whether VRT replaced Dr. Marsch. Hotly debated<BR>> until
Gene Wolfe set the record straight in two separate interviews.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Those seem like a different kind of puzzle (if you want to use that
term). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT><FONT size=3
face=Calibri></FONT>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT><FONT size=3
face=Calibri></FONT><BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">>
</FONT></FONT>>Gwern Branwen: It has been a while, but wasn't there just one
sequence of numbers<BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">>
</FONT></FONT>>which made up a Seal of Pas?<BR> <BR><FONT
face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>Yes. But there was
mention by Hammerstone of many other seals which had already been<BR><FONT
face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>broken. A random
serial number doesn't make sense for Wolfe to devote this much
attention<BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">>
</FONT></FONT>to. </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>He didn’t devote all
that much attention to it. He used three lines to illustrate the nature of
the seal. A lot less than is devoted to Maytera Marble’s lamb chops, or
the technology of taluses.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT face=Calibri><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>I think it has some sort of Earthly
or perhaps Urthly significance that we are supposed<BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>to figure out. I still think the
Bible and the Seventh Seal and the 12 x 12,0000 Tribes of<BR><FONT
face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>Israel is a likely
suspect. Perhaps not to be ignored is that there are words also.<BR> <FONT
face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT><BR><FONT
face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>5553 8783 4223
9700 34<BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">>
</FONT></FONT>2221 0401 1101 7276 56<BR><FONT face=Calibri><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">> </FONT></FONT>SEALED FOR THE MONARCH</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Words with a fairly
obvious interpretation. (I suppose one could consider them as suggesting
that Typhon will return, but the interpretation that the vaults were sealed
under his orders works fine too.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>One could also argue
that there is a hidden meaning attached to the numbers being meaningless,
combined with Silk’s reverent reaction to them. If the numbers were
meaningful, Silk would be responding to a true deity, his author, and so his
reverence would be appropriate.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma"><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>- Gerry
Quinn</FONT></DIV>
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