(urth) Faterh Inire Theory cont.

David Stockhoff dstockhoff at verizon.net
Sun Dec 12 17:37:25 PST 2010


It's simple. Jonas recognized the architecture as Urthly architecture 
much like our own. He recognized technology from a time he was familiar 
with. He's been around 20,00 years and has touched on Urth many times.

The Whorl is not a starship. It has ways of binding its dust, microbes, 
toxins, and allergens so that the air is scrubbed.

On 12/12/2010 8:11 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
> 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
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