(urth) Faterh Inire Theory cont.

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "David Stockhoff" <dstockhoff at verizon.net>


> Wooden ships used to be carefully and colorfully painted. And rooms in 
> those ships would be opened up for dinner and divided up for sleep, much 
> as larger rooms in older buildings have been divided up for cubicles or 
> apartments for about 100 years now.
>
> But that's different. And imagine the problems you'd have with painted 
> rooms in a starship, even without flaking paint.

Actually, I can't.  What problems do you mean?  We know from textual 
evidence that Jonas's ship had artifical gravity, so the environment inside 
was fairly Urthlike, and flaking paint would hardly have caused insuperable 
problems.  What of a modern day seagoing ship - is there any reason why it 
should not have such a ceiling?  If not, why should it be a problem for one 
of Wolfe's starships?

Gene Wolfe does not describe starship interiors much, so we really don't 
know what they are like.  The Whorl is described in detail, but it clearly 
does not resemble Jonas's ship.  I don't really remember details of 
Tzadkiel's, but that is also prety unique anyway.

> I like the thought that clouds relate to the Fortunate Cloud. But painted 
> vaulted ceilings tend to have skies painted on them. Such a ceiling could 
> not be more ordinary in a palace. It would be quite remarkable in a 
> starship. I have never seen such a starship in Wolfe.

The only starships I can think of in Wolfe whose interiors are described in 
detail are the Whorl, and the one in the novella Silhouette.  The current 
two-book collections of BotLS actually show moulded ceilings in the cover 
art!  The starship in Silhouette is unlikely to have them, but that is 
perhaps a cultural issue; it could have supported them easily.

Anyway, I don't want to get into a war over such details.  I am defending 
the theory, but as I said I am not wedded to it.  And our interpretations of 
BotNS do not stand or fall on the question of whether the Antechamber was or 
was not part of Jonas's starship.  But I ask again: has anyone any better 
explanation for Jonas's (confirmed) architectural observations and the other 
things I mentioned?

- Gerry Quinn