(urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by Rudesind

brunians at brunians.org brunians at brunians.org
Wed Jul 7 06:09:51 PDT 2010


Good insights, Lee.

The problem with this list is that there are a certain number of pedants.

.


>
>>Jane Delawny- Was intending to ask about this on list but Tim got
>>in there ahead of me - making me wonder if there might be a 'consensus'
>>regarding Borski ... if he's on this list I have missed him, Ohai Robert
>>if you're out there, I have read your stuff with huge amounts of interest
>>but also some skepticism!
>
> Yeah, Borski was on this list, before my time, in the early 2000's I think
> it was. I think there is sort of a concensus that he took some of his
> ideas
> and ran with them so far and so fast that they are difficult for anyone
> else
> to follow. And that he left the list because he couldn't stand the
> criticism.
> Still I appreciate his efforts to publish his ideas and get them out
> there.
> Some of the other old grand masters hold their cards too close to the
> vest,
> perhaps also fearing such criticism. This doesn't allow us to pick their
> brains or participate in the interactive process which I enjoy.
>
>>David Stockhoff- Any thoughts on the question of Fechin having painted
>> Inire
>>as a little boy, thus proving that he is Rudesind, who was painted by
>> Fechin
>>as a little boy?
>
> I don't think I'd ever hope to prove something but rather find
> suggestions. And
> in that scenario, Rudesind says a great artist visited him, when he was a
> boy
> artist, to see his work. "It was Fechin, Fechin himself!". Was Fechin, the
> great artist or the boy? Naturally we jump to the conclusion that the
> great
> artist was Fechin. But the painting of the boy included paint brushes
> (and a tangerine). Many famous artists have done their own self-portrait
> depicting themselves with brushes (including Picasso, Van Gogh, Rembrandt,
> Chagall AND Nicolai Fechin) so that could be a sly way of hinting that the
> boy,
> Rudesind, was Fechin, not just as subject, but artist also.
>
>>A.P. Marques- But what's interesting about it?.. That's what I've been
>> asking
>>all along. You only see coincidences because you want to. As Horn or
>> someone
>>said, everything is connected to everything else. By lowering the bar for
>>connectedness as has been done here, one can find coincidences
>> everywhere.
>>But the 'incidence' part of the coincidences is entirely of yallr own
>>making. You are connecting dots that you have put there yourselves. That
>>could be interesting if it lead to something, but to what does it lead?
>
> A nice metaphor as we see Severian on his back, looking at stars and
> making
> connections into constellations (including, preciently, a peryton/Hethor
> spying on him). I have not created the dots any more than Severian has
> created
> all the stars (well, maybe he created one). Gene Wolfe created all the
> dots. The
> question is which, if any, should be connected.
>
> For example, we have Father Inire's mirrors, Hethor's mirrors and mirror
> sails
> on Tzadkiel's ship. Three dots. Should we connect them? I think most would
> say
> yes, they all seem to work as teleporters, sometimes for weird creatures.
>
> Father Inire is an alien. Hethor was a sailor on an interstellar/universal
> spaceship. Both show suggestions of an unhealthy attraction to young human
> women.
> Should we connect these two characters based on that and the mirror
> connection?
> Or should we not connect them because it disrupts our image of Father
> Inire and
> doesn't fit with the story we know and love?
>
> FWIW I find much of Greek mythology to have a similar weird
> understructure. Was Zeus
> the mighty, heroic god that I (and Gene Wolfe?) admired as a child, who
> defeated the
> monstrous Titans, including Typhon, and ruled among the clouds with
> fatherly grace?
> Or was he a creepy guy who killed his father and married his sister and
> spent his
> spare time using his power to seduce/rape young girls and boys like Europa
> and
> Ganymede? He is both, right? But I had to mature as a reader and as a
> person before
> I could see both sides.
>
> For me, BotNS is built (NOT coincidentally) like House Absolute. There is
> a main
> structure and a second, secret house which has been built co-extensively
> within it.
> As the Secret House was constructed by Father Inire, I find it appropriate
> to think
> the secret structure of BotNS is centered on that character. If you don't
> think there
> are undiscovered mysteries in the story or don't find the search enjoyable
> I can
> understand that. The main story is really great and I spent years enjoying
> it on that
> level alone. But I always felt there was more.
>
>
>
>
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