Sorry to chime in kind of late, but I just wanted to say that, like Gerry, I am content to leave notions of the soul (and many other things) as mostly mysterious in Wolfe's books. Wolfe tends to avoid writing "hard science fiction" or straight allegory and never (at least, as far as the books I have read go) offers explicit scientific or spiritual explanation for some things. The explanation of deep space travel that Father Inire gives is as much mystical as scientific, for example; whatever the "truth" is, it is so well hidden behind the motives and understanding of Inire, Severian, and the other speakers / narrators that it probably can't be uncovered. Personally, I get more out of the story <i>not</i> knowing or pursuing the ins and outs of the scientific or theological explanations that might hold for a given phenomenon. There is something distinctly otherworldly about the <i>New Sun </i>books that makes trying to force the events therein into the confines of 20th century physics or Catholic theology inconsequential to my enjoyment of them.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Gerry Quinn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gerry@bindweed.com">gerry@bindweed.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div><b>From:</b> <a title="danldo@gmail.com" href="mailto:danldo@gmail.com" target="_blank">Dan'l Danehy-Oakes</a> </div></div></div>
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Gerry Quinn wrote:<br><br>> > I don’t think Wolfe talks much about souls
as such. I’m not sure we can<br>> > flatly state that he is
postulating that they are an entirely separate thing<br>> > from the mind
and its connection to the universe.<br><br>> ...but I think that talking
about Lupine fiction, and _especially_ the<br>> Briah cycle, without seeing
souls everywhere, is akin to Dr. Crane's<br>> explanation of Silk's
enlightenment as a cerebral accident. It is<br>> self-contained and in its
way complete, but it misses the point. To<br>> insist that everything be
"scientifically" explicable is reasonable;<br>> to say that this is the true
explanation is to cut oneself off from<br>> entire layers of meaning.</div>
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<br>> And the sad thing is that Crane cannot even conceive of what he
is<br>> cutting himself off from. Is that true of you also?</div></div>
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<div style="font-style:normal;display:inline;font-family:'Calibri';color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:small;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none">I
don’t think *everything* has to be scientifically explicable. Silk’s
enlightenment seems to be, in essence, a kind of miracle.</div></div>
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<div style="font-style:normal;display:inline;font-family:'Calibri';color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:small;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none">What
I’m not convinced by is your particular dualistic understanding of the soul; I’m
not sure what it adds to the story. I’m content to leave the concept of
the soul as a little mysterious. Perhaps that makes me in your mind like
Crane.</div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
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Gerry Quinn</div></div>
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