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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><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 15, 2011 1:48 PM</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> But, I was pleasantly surprised that with Severian's exile, his
life and the story opened up <BR>> nicely. It was gradual, but I remember at
some point realizing, "oh, a sword, a giant, a <BR>> sleeping beauty, magic,
palaces..now I know what sort of story I'm in!". </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Certainly there are fairy-tale elements. But we are also left in no
doubt about the deep-future background against which these tropes must be
interpreted. The logic of fairy-tales will be of limited application.
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<DIV>> Funnily, the lack <BR>> of a point on the end of Terminus Est
was an effective disguise. It seems more like a tool <BR>> than a weapon for
so much of the story. The sorcery is likewise disguised, by scientific<BR>>
trappings. </DIV>
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<DIV>I didn’t feel the same way about the point. The sword is as tall as
Severian, after all, and very heavy – it is not a sword to lunge with. Few
combat scenarios would be affected by the absence of a point.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, that is by-the-by. While genre categorisation arguments can
get a bit silly, especially with a genre-mixing author like Wolfe, I would argue
that BotNS is not really part of the ‘swords and sorcery’ genre, even though it
does indeed contain swords* and sorcery, and indeed certain episodes (e.g. the
mine with the man-apes) that would fit comfortably into the genre. It’s
not _about_ the swords and sorcery.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>[*] Not all that many sword, thoughs. Severian’s gets broken halfway
through, and I don’t recall what weapon he uses in the war. Vodalus also
carries a sword. I don’t remember any others, offhand. Still, we can
agree that the sword is prominent, and they must be reasonably commonplace even
if there is never a true swordfight.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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