(urth) Father Inire Theory cont.

[Lee Berman]

>Andrew Mason: Iubar Street is mentioned again near the end of _Urth_, when Eata says there 
>was a party there to celebrate Valeria's second marriage. 
 
Good catch!
My first thought is, "what does that say about Dux Caesidius?"
 
 
>I would take it that it is the main street of the city, and represents the people's devotion 
>(nominally, at least) to the New Sun. (Note also that the cathedral has candles
>representing the Claw.)

I remain eternally skeptical of every established thing in the Commonwealth. If the Pelerines
truly seek the New Sun, why is their color red, instead of white or gold? Why have they 
encased the Claw in corundum and kept it hidden away?
 
When Valeria (whom I think is not a part of the Commonwealth, at least in Severian's time) wishes
to speak of the New Sun she does not use a term associated with Lucifer. she says:
 
>"Lux dei vitae viam monstrat".
 
>I would say that both _Wonders of Urth and Sky_ and the library as a whole contain monsters because 
>they contain _everything_.
 
Of course. But Severian could encounter references to evil sea gods anywhere. I'm just add to the list 
of evidence that Ultan serves as one vector.
 
 
>David Stockhoff- Yes, Wolfe sympathizes very much with Ultan.

Absolutely agreed! Perhaps on a level not fully recognized. During a convesation with someone last year
I observed that Ultan tells Severian about reading on the 49th Floor, overlooking a square for drying 
rosemary. Gene Wolfe was 49 when SotT was published and his wife, of course, is Rosemary. As a reader 
you could dismiss that as accidental. But if you were a careful author like Gene wolfe with not a word 
wasted, could YOU manage to put your age and your wife's name in a paragraph by accident? I don't think 
Gene wolfe could.
 
Let's go back to the principle of "book as universe- author as demiurge". Also to the principle that the
ruler will take on many roles in his own kingdom. Let's not be simplistic! Gene Wolfe may put multiple
versions of himself in BotNS but they aren't all going to be purely "good". As demiurge, Gene Wolfe would
WANT to make many, if not all, his avatars be flawed and display "evil". How boring and dishonest to cast
one's self only as the pure-hearted hero.
 
>Andrew Mason- And on a complete tangent: I don't think Ultan is a servant of the
>Autarch. In his note at the end of COTC, GW says that all the residents of the Citadel 
>except Ultan are servants of the throne. I originally took this just to mean that he was 
>an exultant. But that's weird; Pelerines can be both exultant by birth and religious by
>vocation; why can't Ultan be both exultant by birth and servant of the throne by vocation? 
>Cyriaca (as so often) provides the clue. the first keeper of the archives was appointed by T
>yupon, and he appointed hissuccessor, and the succession continues to this day, faithful to the
>charge given them by Typhon. It is a trust that existed before the autarchy and is not bound by it.
 
I think this is an EXCELLENT analysis. I might even take it as a metaphor that Wolfe recognizes as 
Jose Luis Borges as mentor/predecessor with deeper roots than Wolfe has yet developed.