Baldanders and Dr. Talos are such a beguiling pair, because they feel more "real" than a lot of what happens in Shadow and in Claw, more grounded somehow. They are recurring, and relatively easy to comprehend, at least on a surface level. But what is the significance of their traveling show? Why are they such a completely cartoonish duo? Why does Severian keep hanging out with them?
I've just recently read their play near the end of Claw and, well, as with everything else in BotNS so far, I'm relieved but also sort of mystified that it doesn't necessarily make any more sense to people reading the book for the fifth or sixth time than it did for me reading it for the first time.
Ha! Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. The significance of everything is difficult to judge until much later. And even then, you may not make the connection because you don't remember some of these strange details by the time you get to where they're meant to resonate.
Me too! And I think it's a testament to how he's crafted this world that it doesn't feel like a moment of dreamlogic or surrealism. It feels like something that very well may be real, waiting out there in the ocean.
Wolfe borrowed Abaia for his own devices the same way H.P. Lovecraft took Dagon for the same reason.
I only hope Abaia isn't an electric eel...
Baldanders and Dr. Talos are such a beguiling pair, because they feel more "real" than a lot of what happens in Shadow and in Claw, more grounded somehow. They are recurring, and relatively easy to comprehend, at least on a surface level. But what is the significance of their traveling show? Why are they such a completely cartoonish duo? Why does Severian keep hanging out with them?
I've just recently read their play near the end of Claw and, well, as with everything else in BotNS so far, I'm relieved but also sort of mystified that it doesn't necessarily make any more sense to people reading the book for the fifth or sixth time than it did for me reading it for the first time.
BotNS is just a dream that you're awake for.
Ha! Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. The significance of everything is difficult to judge until much later. And even then, you may not make the connection because you don't remember some of these strange details by the time you get to where they're meant to resonate.
Nothing to say except that I loved the dream of the giant mer-women. Atmospheric!
Me too! And I think it's a testament to how he's crafted this world that it doesn't feel like a moment of dreamlogic or surrealism. It feels like something that very well may be real, waiting out there in the ocean.