![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Disciple As Hero
Dec. 2nd, 2006 12:01 am10 Nov 2006
On Blue’s Waters - Gene Wolfe - Tor, 2000
* * * *
The religious element of Gene Wolfe’s writing is particularly apparent in the three linked “Sun” series that form his magnum opus. The plot-arc of Severian, the hero of the Book of the New Sun, is clearly modelled on a Catholic interpretation of the life of Jesus, though somewhat complicated (to put it mildly) by the fact that he starts out as a torturer. The Book of the Long Sun’s Patera Silk is also a Christ-figure (and for me a much more engaging character than the po-faced Severian), but his story is in fact closer to that of Moses particularly at its ending. In this, the first part of the Book of the Short Sun, the focus has shifted to Silk’s follower Horn, suggesting a comparison with the life of St Peter. Though as always with Wolfe, there are complications.
( Read more... )
On Blue’s Waters - Gene Wolfe - Tor, 2000
* * * *
The religious element of Gene Wolfe’s writing is particularly apparent in the three linked “Sun” series that form his magnum opus. The plot-arc of Severian, the hero of the Book of the New Sun, is clearly modelled on a Catholic interpretation of the life of Jesus, though somewhat complicated (to put it mildly) by the fact that he starts out as a torturer. The Book of the Long Sun’s Patera Silk is also a Christ-figure (and for me a much more engaging character than the po-faced Severian), but his story is in fact closer to that of Moses particularly at its ending. In this, the first part of the Book of the Short Sun, the focus has shifted to Silk’s follower Horn, suggesting a comparison with the life of St Peter. Though as always with Wolfe, there are complications.
( Read more... )