From: "Christopher Culver" <new_sun@hotmail.com>
Subject: (whorl) Quadrifons
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 23:37:18 

Hello all,

My first post after reading RttW. I'll admit that I'm somewhat disappointed; 
the BotSS is no BotNS, but it's certainly much better than the BotLS. 
Tormented first-person accounts are really Wolfe's forte, and I missed them 
in the BotLS.

One of my biggest hopes was that RttW would clear up the mystery of who 
Quadrifons is, but I admit I'm pretty stumped. My suspicion in OBW was that 
he was the apotheosized Severian, who now is enjoying his own gifts of 
teleportation. But IGJ totally discarded that theory.

Is Quadrifons the Son, i.e. historical Christ? Being the god of crossroads, 
its understandable that he could also be the god of crosses. Horn's 
performance of a quasi-Eucharist in Olivine's quarters supports this idea.

In IGJ, Horn mentions Quadrifons "whispering in his ear" in the Whorl. I 
didn't catch any reference to this in RttW. What is it supposed to mean?

Reading again Horn's Eucharist scene at the Neighbor's altar in IGJ, which I 
believe is one of the most moving things Wolfe has ever written, I was 
suprised to see him mention that he "sacrificed for Olivine." I think it 
will be interesting to go back through the first two books and put together 
all the pieces now that we have RttW.

Christopher CULVER <new_sun@hotmail.com>

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