From: Kieran Mullen <kieran@phyast.nhn.ou.edu>
Subject: (whorl) Re:  Digest whorl.v001.n064
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 1997 21:06:34 


[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

>From: "Alice Turner" <al@interport.net>
>
>Mate  is sorta weak as a clue.
>
>But the quick-and-dirty clues to Alexandria are (1) Holy Katharine (St.
>Catherine is the patron of Alexandria); (2) the library; (3) the cluster of
>towers in the old launching pad (Matachin, Bear, Witches etc.) which seem
>to stand in for the ancient Pharos. Admittedly, the third point is a bit
>far-fetched, but not so much when you put in context (I promise to do
>context soon---taxes are in the way).

   This doesn't persuade me.  Holy Katharine is not the patron of Nessus,
only of the torturers.  St. Catherine (of the St. Catherine's wheel fame)
was martyred (IIRC) on a burning wheel.  If anything, this is an allusion
to the fact that the towers are themselves rockets.  The library reference
is too broad: are ALL libraries in fiction automatically the Great Library
of Alexandria?

   
                    Kieran Mullen



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