(urth) Father Inire

[Lee Berman]

>larry miller: Id say that Jolenta is a better candidate for Severa

>than any other female character in the book.  Yes the fact that we 

>never know her real name is a clue that Wolfe is hiding something.


Agreed. If there was a witch character of the right age named Severa, 

we wouldn't be having this discussion. Even if we ignore the theme of

incest (which we should not do, imho), are there any other characters

who are Severian's age and who might be named Severa and who might have

been raised with witches? I think only (stage name) Jolenta fits that

bill.

 

>David Stockhoff: I think incest is meaningful but that doesn't mean it 

>must occur, much less always.

 

I agree. 

 

Severian's travels resemble those of a clueless Greek hero like

Oedipus, stumbling into situations of which he doesn't understand the 

significance. Oedipus had sex with his mother, an act that defined him.

If he had sex with other women too, that does not make him any less of

a motherf..well, you know. A pattern of incest among Severian's mates

does not require that all his mates were family members.

 

>....That would make Apheta a prime candidate, but that turns the 
>theory on its head.

 

I'll disagree. Severian's sex with Apheta might be a positive clue. Also

the fact that Apheta did not enjoy the sex (kinda like siblings Typhon and

Echidna? Now there was a crappy marriage for sure). Apheta does not seem to 

have been born on Urth with Severian and she doesn't seem to have been a witch

nor even had a name before she met Severian. Moreover, the concept of a

missing twin to Severian named Severa was developed in the first four books,

ostensibly a fait accompli. It would have been quite unfair of Wolfe to

dangle Severa at us then only show her in an unplanned additional volume.

 

>If Briah is a gnostic/fallen universe where beings enact meaningless 
>rituals in hopes of connection with the Divine......

 

I don't see it quite this way. Briah is a gnostic universe but retarded not fallen. 

Actually, I think Briah is rising, but just a lot more slowly than our unverse.

We got our Flood at the dawn of civilization and Christ at 1 A.D. Briah doesn't

get its Flood until the equivalent of many thousands of years into our future. And

Briah has glimmers but has not yet achieved a Christ when the story ends. Still

spiritually polytheistic and nature-god oriented.