(urth) follow up (was: Re: Hello, I'm a Newb)

[Jane Delawney]

First of all please forgive if I seem to change the message header for 
no reason; I already mentioned somewhere on list that my ISP's mail 
server simply /will not/ (no matter how I fiddle with the settings) 
return my list mails to me unless I start a new thread. This is very 
annoying, obviously! Please Nicholas take this as a direct response to 
your post of 22:28 tonight.

On 30/06/10 22:28, Nicholas Jost wrote:
> Since Gene Wolfe was mentioned in an article appearing in First Things recently
> and was recommended through a friend I decided to pick up some of his books.  I
> read "An Evil Guest" first, and once I realized I had missed pretty much the
> whole book, I picked up the New Sun series (including the fifth book) and
> promised I would pay more attention.  I have read some of the archive and the
> notes on the Gene Wolfe Wiki (which I _think_ is maintained by one of you
> folks?).
>
>
> I am now going to add my entirely wild musings to the mix.
>
> 1.) Is Severian Albion?  He becomes the "Storm God" in the end and the servitors
> of Albion also "serve" him especially when he is saved.
>    
It's stated somewhere I think in the 5th book (can't be more specific 
right now, don't have the time frankly) that what is done on Urth at 
Severian's time (whether that is during his apprenticeship, wanderings, 
Autarchy, return out of time as the Conciliator, or indeed as the 
Sleeper Awakened upon Ushas) may 'echo' somehow back down the ages. 
Also, the deeds of those around him may do much the same thing.

In this context we find Urth/Ushas echoes/prefigurings (from the 
Hierodules' point of view, their time-sense runs backward vs. ours) of 
such popular and legendary myth-tropes as Dracula, Frankenstein (kind of 
backwards here, with the 'Monster' ie Baldanders as the master), Robin 
Hood (Vodalus is a somewhat perverted version of the 'good bandit'), 
Storm-gods (Severian seems to be in the role of Thor and similar 
deities, as well as that of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee, when he 
quietens the storm on Gyoll - though the idea that this storm is based 
within his out of control anger is more Thor-like than Christ-like by a 
very long way ... and possibly even more Marvel-Thor than 
Norse-Deity-Thor, for that matter), Sun-gods (Apu-Punchau is a name for 
the Inca solar deity Inti) and Fish-gods such as Oannes (or even Jesus 
again, though I do realise that the 'fish' thing has more to do with 
early Christian need for concealment (the ICHTHOS glyph) than with any 
real connection with the man Jesus.
> 3.) Has anyone else had difficulty explaining the plot to his aged grandmother
> and consciously skipped over the Dorcas character?
>    
Duh. No actually :) Why did you need to explain the plot to your Grannie?
> 4.) Is Severian a proto(/post)-Christian (not -like) figure in a Mormon
> universe?  That is it seems to have an endless hierarchy of gods.  The concept
> of an "uncreate" blows this theory but the robots seem to have an endless
> hierarchy topped (roughly) by a race.  Am I missing something?
>    
That's 'increate'. And as for Mormons, you tell us? I doubt there are 
many Mormon experts on this list.

cheers

JD



> Nicholas Jost
>
>
>
>
>    
>
>
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