(urth) Travelling North aka miscellaneous thoughts on Wolfe

[Jeff Wilson]

On 6/4/2010 9:53 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>
> I like the idea of the presence of Baldanders/Talos rippling through
> time and space to affect the dreams of Mary Shelley on Lake Geneva
> (or vice versa).
>
> Still there are other Earthly artifacts on Urth which seem to demand
> a more substantial connection, most notably in the Jungle Hut. I think
> the Jungle Hut actually exists on Earth not Urth, and that Severian has
> passed through a portal from one world/universe to the other to get there.
> I think Borski identified a historical pair of missionaries who perhaps
> form the basis for Robert and Marie. And I suspect the master of portals
> on Urth, Father Inire, is found in that hut. We get most of our glimpses
> of the mysterious Padre in cowled or masked form but I think in the Hut
> we get an all too explicit view of him as buck naked Isangoma. 		 	   		

That's my other concern with the "Urth preceeds Earth" theory: it seems 
like an awful lot of hand-wringing is done over the fate of Urth when 
it's a simple matter to stroll in the Gardens and see how things turned 
out.

Personally, I think Wolfe borrowed from the "All Our Yesterdays" episode 
of Star Trek where the Sarpeidons escape the end of their world by 
emigrating to historical eras. It doesn't hurt that Mr Atoz, the time 
librarian, was played by Ian ("eon"?) Wolfe.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >