(urth) Father Inire theory

[aaron]

I actually wrote to Wolfe about Inire a few months back and his reply was,
of course, enigmatic, but also interesting.  I'll post it later--it may be
of interest to those here.

On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 1:21 PM, Andrew Mason
<andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com>wrote:

> >
> >
> Thanks for this, Lee. Let me see what I can make of it.
>
> Is Inire a shape-shifter?  I'm inclined to say not, because in the
> scenes where it's most generally agreed we see him, he's masked or
> hooded - and as Jeff Wilson pointed out, this means he can actually
> 'disguise' himself by revealing his face - also in one case he is
> naked, which is another form of disguise. In addition, Severian refers
> to his life being prolonged beyond the short life-span of his race,
> which suggests he belongs to the same species as Barbatus and
> Famulimus, who, again, are masked. But all these disguises would not
> be needed if they could change shape. (Of course, we are told that he
> - if he is the jungle shaman - can change into a tiger. But this seems
> rather unhelpful; Severian never meets a tiger.)
>
> Human/alien breeding. The most relevant passage here is from _Urth_
> where Gunnie is talking about the jibers; she says sometimes people
> from two different origins pair up and have children, but the children
> themselves are normally not fertile. It's not clear, though, if she
> means people of completely different origins, or people of human
> descent on different planets, who have evolved away from one another,
> as we know happens. (Though if such a person came to Urth, might they
> still be called a cacogen?)  This leaves me rather doubtful about
> whether Inire can be anyone's grandfather. (Sex between humans and
> aliens is certainly possible, witness Apheta, as Ryan Dunn points out;
> the question is about offspring. I know Severian and Apheta have
> offspring of a sort; but not biologically.)
>
> (If Inire's species _can_ breed with humans, though, might the other
> monkey-like people be his children?)
>
> Thematically; might Severian's having alien descent spoil his status
> as the epitome of Urth? Or should we see cacogens as now part of the
> community of Urth - or perhaps Inire as having, by choice, become part
> of it? I have an idea that we are meant to see Severian as descended
> from people who represent all the classes of the Commonwealth - Dorcas
> is an optimate, her husband is commonalty, Catherine was religious by
> vocation, and either exultant or armiger by birth, or perhaps a
> mixture of the two (that Severian has some exultant blood is suggested
> by the fact that several people mistake him for one). We just have to
> get a servant of the throne in somewhere, or perhaps Severian can
> represent them himself. Might there also be a cacogen? It would be
> appropriate in some ways, not in others.
>
> (I'm not suggesting people believe this just because it's thematically
> appropriate. I'd like some clues as to who his exultant and armiger
> forebears were. But given the way Wolfe writes, it's quite possible
> there are such clues, waiting to be discovered.)
>
> >
> > I tried to peruse the text for more possible appearances of Inire and
> most of those
> > I found have been mentioned by others in the previous thread. The one
> that hasn't been
> > mentioned is the one that has caused the most objection to my version of
> the theory in
> > the past: The Boatman. He is a small, bent old man though with no monkey
> features or
> > obscured eyes mentioned. I find the fact that he hangs out in the Botanic
> Garden and
> > discusses Father Inire's appearance (same as his own) and actions to be
> clues that he is
> > a possible version of Inire, though others disagree.
>
> I don't find that persuasive - that he reports having seen Father
> Inire strikes me as evidence that he is _not_ the same person. But I
> realise that 'I don't find that persuasive' is, itself, not
> persuasive, so here are a couple of more substantial points. First,
> how significant is it that the boatman _now_ looks something like
> Inire, if, as I take it, he has not always done so? Did he look like
> that when he lived with Dorcas? And second, Severian sees a piece of
> paper with the boatman's name on it - the chart giving details of
> Dorcas's burial - but, he claims, doesn't take it in. I'm fairly sure
> this name is meant to be significant in some way. Presuably it isn't
> 'Inire'. But if it's an assumed name, why create the air of mystery
> about it?
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-- 
Aaron Singleton
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