>What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed, so that I staggered as at a blow–was that if the Eternal Principle had rested in that curved thorn I had carried about my neck across so many leagues, and if it now rested in the new thorn (perhaps the same thorn) I had only now put there, then it might rest in everything, in every thorn in every bush, in every drop of water in the sea. The thorn was a sacred Claw because all thorns were sacred Claws; the sand in my boots was sacred sand because it came from a beach of sacred sand. The cenobites treasured up the relics of the sannyasins because the sannyasins had approached the Pancreator. But everything had approached and even touched the Pancreator, because everything had dropped from his hand. Everything was a relic. All the world was a relic. I drew off my boots, that had traveled with me so far, and threw them into the waves that I might not walk shod on holy ground.
Is it strange this actually moved me to tears? It feels like the culmination of Wolfe's faith, of all the ideas he's been laying out over the book. I'm not religious, but Wolfe's conviction still touches me.
What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed...
Wolfe in amazingly good at describing the sublime. Book of the New Sun made me want to be Catholic
It's interesting how it does a better job conveying Christian ideas than say something like Narnia, which is extremely overt in its allegory.
I've read The Book of the New Sun 3 times and this is indeed the absolute culmination of his entire life, it always moves me to tears. They are flowing down my cheeks as I'm writing this because I've never read anything as beautiful or as moving in all the literature I've read.
Gene Wolfe manages to perfectly explain and justify his faith in one single paragraph. The sheer skill of the writing is enough to get me emotional.
It's probably the best part of the series. The last sequence of chapters, everything from his final confrontation with the Autarch to his homecoming is probably some of the best sequences of chapters I've read. So much revelation and powerful writing.
The end of Urth made me cry
A lot of people say its such a dip in quality, that you should just go straight to Long Sun. Did I fucked up?
Nah it still great, takes some time to pick up steam thought
It's a nice epilouge and I think you should read it if you liked the other books
I'm pretty sure I teared up at that one as well
Made me feel like a fag but what can you do
Oh also is right, it does take a short while to get going
The beginning is sort of staggering because of how Citadel of the Autarch ends, there is a disconnect of sorts that took me a bit to get used to
That's why you should read something else inbetween Citadel and Urth. Urth came out years later, so it should feel like you're returning to Severian's story after a long break, instead of just continuing it.
>dude everything is sacred lmao
>fags actually find this shitty theology that desu borders on pantheism and hence heresy moving or even interesting
sounds like a bunch of hippie bullshit to me
>all is all and all is one
That would be heresy actually. Wolfe isn't into heresy.
Well it doesn't resonate with me at all, this Pancreator unity thing.
Divine conservation, not pantheism.
And it's the culmination that makes it so amazing, outside of context it's not as impressive.
I read the book but it really failed to hammer home the importance of the idea for me.
that's because you have little baby bird brains
I really can't see anything particularly moving about JC's sacrifice or about the oneness with God, Christfag.
Well I just finished my second reading of Book of the New Sun. Now I rest, reflect, and prepare to move on to Urth.
>made me want to be Catholic
I understand being turned towards Christianity, but why about this book specifically made you want to be a Catholic?
Gene himself is a Catholic. I'm not even well versed enough to tell you the difference but Gene snuck all kinds of goodies in there. It's a Catholic Moby Dick.
Sidero is for anal
Can I just jump into this book if I haven't read neither the bible, nor much sci fi?