(urth) Shadow, Chapter X

[Craig Brewer]

John Watkins said:


>Symbolically, I think Severian is
>clearly meant to present some of the aspects of Christ without
>functioning as an equivalent to Christ.  I think this is true of Silk
>as well, with different aspects.

In his interview with James Jordan, Wolfe says just what you've said about Severian:

"I don't think of
Severian as being a Christ figure; I think of Severian as being a
Christian figure. He is a man who has been born into a very
perverse background, who is gradually trying to become better. I
think that all of us have somewhere in us an instinct to try and
become better. Some of us defeat it thoroughly. We kill that part
of ourselves, just as we kill the child in ourselves. It is very
closely related to the child in us."

(p. 109 in Wright's _Shadows of the New Sun_)

I often find myself really wanting to push this angle when I come up against interpretations that see Severian in any kind of over-idealistic manner. Apart from the miracles he performs or that get performed in his presence, there isn't a lot about Severian that matches Jesus's life. There's the violence and sex that puts him apart, of course, but also the trajectory of his life: In New Sun, at least, there's no ultimate sacrifice we're aiming at. Instead, it's about a boy becoming a reflective warrior who also becomes ruler. Severian embodies different types of power in a way that seem, to me, downright alien to the gospels. Severian's way of dealing with power may ultimately strive to be Christian, but the story is not a new Gospel.

And even when we add Urth of the New Sun to the mix, I've always wondered how much what we're seeing is supposed to place Severian in a Christ-like position. Although he may be there nominally to be judged for all of Urth, the details really complicate that reading, especially when it becomes unclear how much will Severian himself actually had in everything that was going on. If, as in our recent discussions, much of Severian's life was manipulated to become who was to become, it makes Severian seem to me less uniquely "divine" than just a tool of larger forces, even if the story he plays out certainly is one of salvation.

I also have some problems with thinking of Severian as a second coming of the Conciliator. And what's the Conciliator's relationship to Jesus, anyway? The Conciliator was a historical figure in Typhon's time, if we can trust what he tells Severian in Sword. So does Christ come again and again? Are we supposed to line up Urth's history with a Christian mythology as well? And, if so, how do we account for multiple incarnations, at least 3: Jesus, Conciliator, Severian, when a standard Christian reading only has two: Jesus of Nazareth and the Apocalypse.)

My point, I think (or at least hope) is that the moral and/or religious thrust of the book is most effective when Severian is seen as a guy trying to live his very unique life according to Christian principles that are just as hard for him to understand and carry out aeons away from the "true source" as they are for Christians who have the Book right in front of them. The fact that Severian's life starts, at times, to look as miraculous as Christ's is not a clue that he's truly, metaphysically divine, but just that he's better at living up to "goodness" than most of us are, especially given the complex "fallen" world into which he's thrown (a world where even "angels" turn out to be humanity's judgmental offspring.) Rather, I'd say the point is that his virtue is shown through his ability at times to "Do What Jesus Would Do" without even having a clear model for his actions.

Besides, Silk is a much better man than Severian, imo. But I don't think that anyone believes that, because of that, he's actually Christ returned.

And now I'm done pushing allegorical readings. (But I always have believed that Wolfe was a modern Spenser...heh...)