(urth) academic commentary
DAVID STOCKHOFF
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Tue Nov 30 09:11:17 PST 2010
I agree that text #3 is more grounded in intuition than texts #1 and #2. It is certainly fair for a critic to leave it open, even if I personally see it (more or less as I have said) as counting all the trees and never acknowledging the forest. If a critic sees his task as one of cataloguing, then that's enough. Better than pages of windy speculation.
I also concur that BOTNS is full of plain statements of fact, both from Severian and from his characters. The trick is not just to reveal the deception but also to distinguish the bald truth from the bald lies. We can ask, IF X is lying, what is the deception, and why? If the question cannot be plausibly answered, maybe the statement is simply true, or at least sincere. (I recall Thecla voicing very sensible concerns about the Increate; these do not suggest to me that Wolfe or even Thecla is an atheist---merely rational.)
Another possible angle is one I would not expect Wright to use, and that is to ask, IF the Increate/divine is "present" in BOTNS, where is he/it? Perhaps this is backwards, but again: once we have counted and catalogued the trees, isn't it time to talk about forests?
I should shut up now and go read the book. It sounds promising on a basic interpretive level.
--- On Tue, 11/30/10, Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) academic commentary
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 11:48 AM
Just on Wright's "unwillingness" to discuss a theological standpoint: after
reading the book, I think he just honestly believes that BotNS is a book about
deception, primarily about how religious notions can be manipulative. I don't
think he's particularly unwilling to see a deeper dimension. I think he just
straightforwardly disagrees that the book, as written, contains that deeper
message.
He can certainly be wrong. But I doubt that he's deliberately ignoring things in
New Sun that suggest something deeper. I just think he would disagree that they
are actually signs of "real" divinity.
And, to be honest, I think that's a valid reading of New Sun. It seems possible
to me to make a hard and fast textual "proof" that the Hierodules are
manipulating Severian's experiences throughout most of the text. I'm NOT sure
that you can make a hard and fast textual "proof" that the Increate is also
behind what the Hierodules are doing. (I would gladly be proven wrong on that
point, however.)
Now, I actually think the latter is the case, but it's a looser interpretation
that's probably heavily influenced by what I assume to be Wolfe's intentions.
Going strictly by what the text says, it does seem to me possible (although
disappointing) that Wright's thesis is correct. Perhaps that's because the
theological dimension requires a different attitude toward interpretation than
simply finding passages that essentially say "and here the Increate was guiding
the Hierodules' hands." Perhaps it requires a broader sense of interpretation
that involves a lot more speculation and a willingness to allow hints and
suggestions to stand as "evidence" of a reading. But given the limits that
Wright sets himself for interpretation, I think he's on solid ground.
Like I said before, things change when we get to Long Sun. There, the *real*
supernatural seems much more apparent than in NS. But with Severian, there's the
suggestion that everything supernatural could actually have another explanation.
(Granted, Urth of the New Sun complicates this with its different style of
narration.) In Long Sun and Short Sun, though, we seem to be playing by somewhat
different rules, at least in terms of how the narrative decides to show us
what's happening. In New Sun, however, Severian's filter and the growing
awareness of what the Hierodules are up to makes it much more difficult to
determine what is ultimately "alien manipulation" and what is ultimately
"divine."
So in the end, I think that Wright's interpretation is valid. I don't personally
agree with it, but I'm not entirely confident that I could make my case on his
terms. If the standard you set for yourself when reading is that everything the
author says is suspect and most likely a potential deception (this is largely
Wright's methodology), then making a positive case for real divinity in New Sun
becomes incredibly difficult. I just wonder if that's the best way to approach
Wolfe since, along with the puzzles and the hints and the misleading
characterizations, there's also a lot of sincerity and straightforward
integrity. Determining when you have which attitude, though, is often more a
matter of judgment and even faith (in the author? in something else?) rather
than solid textual "proof."
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