(urth) The Wall again, or It's Big but Not So Dumb
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Fri Jul 23 11:44:18 PDT 2010
Another reason for the existence of the Wall occurred to me. (Never mind
that the fact that the Ascian war used to be farther south is itself
sufficient reason, since overwhelming aerial and space attacks were
always bound to be unlikely anywhere, and the Citadel has long-range
guns.) This one is thematic. It's not a huge deal, but it should be
noted for what it's worth.
I have a hunch that the rough circularity of the Wall and Severian's
passing through it are, if not symbolic, at least a formal
organizational scheme that points to the "true history" laid out in the
events of UotNS.
That is, it is significant that Shadow narrates a radial physical path
from a center (not necessarily the physical center) straight to a point
on the edge, ignoring absolutely everything that may lie to either side.
It ends with a passage across a boundary. Severian describes Shadow as a
road from gate to gate (necropolis to Wall), and to a new road. This
theme continues:
Claw is described as tracing a line from gateway to gateway---from
Saltus to the stone town, which was a different kind of gate, a gate to
the past and other dimensions.
Sword is described as tracing a line from fortress to fortress ---from
Thrax to Diuturna. A fortress may be a kind of gate if it guards a pass
or road. A closed gate may need forcing.
Citadel is described as completing a line from gate to gate---from
necropolis to sky. But of course it starts in the North at the frontier
and ends back at the Citadel, which, again, is a center in more than one
way. So it repeats and reverses the journey from center to periphery, as
well as containing smaller circles; the Citadel itself is a circle, with
a breach in it.
To some degree, these convenient divisions are obvious and superficial.
There are plenty of other divisions in Severian's life, as for example
when he moves from body to body, or when he betrays. But some of these
never become plain until UotNS, and therefore I suspect that this
repeated geometric structure, however simple, is part of Wolfe's "open
conspiracy" of clues.
Much as a center suggests a periphery---the simplest form being a
circle---a circle suggests a center as well as other circles. One circle
is Nessus; another is the Commonwealth, and another is Urth. There other
worlds in their orbits. Another is the universe, and there are other
universes and universal "years," as has been discussed thoroughly on
this forum. Severian's path is suspected to be circular in time, and we
know he moves through past and future. If you think as I do that the
black worm and the New Sun are two sides of the same phenomenon (from a
supradimensional perspective), then this supports that idea.
Yesod is another center---or another circle suggesting yet another
center. The House Absolute is another kind of center that suggests
another kind of circle---a center hidden in plain sight. Are there
circles hidden in plain sight? Other centers?
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