(urth) Wind god

[Jeff Wilson]

On 11/5/2010 3:37 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>
>> James Wynn- Anybody who has posted to this list for any amount of time is guilty of
>> taking a phrase as expansive when it has a more narrow reading in context. So Pot Meet Kettle.
>
> Seems so to me also. I don't see how my mention of the possibly sarcastic "wonder-worker" is
> rendered an example of maliciously selective reading because I didn't include "..and since diseases
> and deformities seemed to flee from him". Quite a large pile of poo unleashed over two quite similar
> phrases. It does seem like the goal was personal attack rather than advancing understanding of
> the text. "Pathological hypoxia due to sleep apnea"? I admit that's a fresh new line of attack I
> haven't seen used before. But anyway, yep, surely all are guilty of selective reading at times.

It's not meant as a diagnosis but an example of cognitive faults that 
may cause behavior one does not choose and so should not be faulted for.

It's not wonder-worker that I take issue with, it's your reading of it 
as possibly sarcastic. "Wonder-worker" already has a sufficient 
connotation of mountebank or illusionist to cover the usual cynical 
doubt of an educated ruler. Indeed, if Severian had performed numerous 
miracles in Typhon's presence, perhaps *then* it would sarcastic in the 
other direction to ironically label a genuine agent of the divine with 
such a commonplace appellation.

The "poo" characterization of my criticism is also worthy of rebuke, but 
I doubt it would useful to do so.

>> Andrew Mason- According to Dorcas's account of the Conciliator, he used to disappear and reappear
>
>> Jeff Wilson- The disappearances mentioned my Dorcas would seem to indicate that his departure into
>> the Corridors was further attested by the soldiers who witnessed it.
>
> Andrew mentions disappearing *and* reappearing. It would be the reappearances that support the idea
> of out-of-text re-emergings of doppelganger Conciliators. Mustn't read one word and skip the other.

Disappearing suggests re-appearing, and the confirmation of the one and 
other miracles emboldens tale-tellers to affirm the other. Sev also has 
a BOTNS-long habit of appraising people from concealment or stealth 
before making his presence emphatically known, constructively appearing 
from nowhere. Without some pre-appearance hint to draw witnesses' 
attention to the spot where he is not, such a theatrical entrance is 
indistinguishable from momentary materialization.

And by theatrical entrance, I mean that literally given his time with Dr 
Talos' troupe and his training in the art of execution; Sev loves to put 
on a show, and the inclusion of even one genuine supernatural effect 
elevates the entire performance, as does the inclusion of mundane but 
unfaked carnage.

>> Jeff Wilson- But Typhon is making the "wonder-worker" speech in SWORD, when he knows
>> there's something special about the Conciliator because he senses that the older fellow
>> he met before his "drying" is connected to the younger but otherwise identical-looking fellow
>> he meets after, both from common sense and from his psychic gifts.
>
> The SWORD encounter itself does not provide enough information to make this conclusion. The scene implies
> that Typhon connects Severian to the Conciliator because of the pouch around his neck, containing the Claw
> of the Conciliator.  Only later do we learn Severian is the Conciliator,  which might allow us to infer
> that Typhon recognizes Severian personally. Still, we might wonder why Typhon treats Severian as a complete
> stranger when they first meet.  		 	   		

Typhon doubtless mastered clever subterfuge decades before his arrival 
on Urth.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >