(urth) Faterh Inire Theory cont.

[Gerry Quinn]

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


> Here's the main point: the House Absolute and the antechamber are partly 
> based on the palace of the Sun King at Verseilles, the very pinnacle of 
> ornamental aristocratic uselessness. Thecla's memory of her youth 
> illustrates this uselessness. Imagine our heroes caught there, wandering 
> among dusty rooms and secret doors and hidden closets. They pass rich 
> chambers and hurrying servants. They go down steps and find a door out of 
> our near future with a red symbol warning of monsters.

There may be some resemblances to Versailles, particularly in that the House 
Absolute was intended as a seat of government away from the capital, and 
that it grew slowly over a long period with many changes and alterations. 
There are some differences too; the House Absolute is built underground, it 
contains a secret second house, and it appears toi extend all the way to 
Nessus.  Its usefulness or otherwise is neither here nor there, I think.

I don't see why any of this would prevent the incorporation of a repurposed 
starship if one was to hand.  We know that such repurposing of spacecraft is 
done elsewhere in the Commonwealth.  Also, when making mental images of the 
place based on Severian's descriptions, it may be worth remembering that 
unlike us he grew up in such a repurposed spacecraft.


> At no time does Jonas, who is now "metal" Jonas, "meat" Jonas having been 
> stunned, mention ships. When he mentions the ceiling and its 
> compartmentalization, he uses the language of an ancient, long-occupied 
> terrestrial palace. At this point they are deep underground.

He dreams about his spaceship while he is there.  (So does Severian!)  I 
don't see anything in his language that refers specifically to terrestrial 
structure.  He says "we used to call that a drop ceiling".  Maybe he meant 
"when we were visiting palaces on Urth" or maybe he meant "in my job as a 
spaceman" - he doesn't elaborate on which.

As for being underground, maybe the parts of the House Absolute were 
excavated, or maybe they were built and covered over.  If one part was built 
around a crashed interstellar ship (as Versailles itself accreted around a 
huntiung lodge) it might even have started off in a crater, making the 
workmens' task easier!


> I really don't understand why this idea is being pursued further.

You and others have pointed out certain difficulties with the conception; I 
would say they are all perfectly answerable with a little imagination.  It's 
equally true that the clues I have suggested lead in this direction clearly 
seem quite unconvincing to some, although many have attempted to find their 
way through Wolfe's labyrinths by following threads that seem even finer!

I still find the idea quite interesting and by no means too implausible to 
discount.  However, I will leave it at, unless I find some huge hitherto 
unnoticed lead.  In any case, unless one starts spinning fanciful secret 
histories, it seems to have no huge import for the story one way or the 
other - it just slightly modifies our impressions of Urth.

- Gerry Quinn