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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></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> Gerry Quinn: Certainly there are fairy-tale elements. But we
are also <BR>> > left in no doubt about the deep-future background against
which these tropes <BR>> > must be interpreted. The logic of
fairy-tales will be of limited application.<BR> <BR>> The "limited
application" is all in your head. There is probably an anti-Gerry
somewhere<BR>> who thinks the futuristic science aspects of the story are of
"limited application".<BR>> Regardless of personal bias, the fact remains
that both elements are intrinsic and<BR>> essential aspects of the book.
There is no basis for diminishing either of them<BR>> except for an
individual reader's likes and dislikes.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">You said: “a sword, a giant, a sleeping
beauty, magic, palaces”. But none of those are really much like their
fairy-tale counterparts. The sword has no magic powers. Baldanders,
fair enough, Severian even fights him in his castle, though not for gold.
Dorcas isn’t really a sleeping beauty – we don’t know she was dead until she is
already leaving the narrative. Magic is tech. Palaces... the House
Absolute is underground.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">What we have learned of these things from
fairy-tales doesn’t really help us here. They don’t mirror their
fairy-tale counterparts. BotNS really isn’t a fairy-tale in any strong
sense. Or so it seems to me.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Conversely, understanding magic as technology
does help us see what’s going on.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">- Gerry Quinn</FONT></DIV>
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