(urth) a false coin

[Lee Berman]

>Marc Aramini: Is Wolfe implying that the fake coin, which he admits in Castle of Days is a 
>symbol of the sun, shaped Sev into something genuine?.....Does that fake coin imply the situation 
>of the sun is a conjuror's trick at best, serving a false master and killing an innocent man to 
>pillage the remains of Urth?  
 
I think this is a very astute assessment of a symbol. It might disturb some, though.
 
>David Stockhoff: And I would theorize that nothing is truly fake in Wolfe. This ties to my 
>current thread with Lee and a topic I return to often: all myths are more or less true. All 
>lies contain truth. As fake as Vodalus and the coin and the autarch and the Commonwealth and 
>the games of the Hieros are---all of them, in every sense and on every level---they are also 
>real and true. Or so my theory forces me to conclude. The open question is what that means.
 
I agree with David but I would add the complementary balance: All truth contains lies. All reality
is partially based on myth and personal bias. Tao/Ouroboros symbol. A bit of evil in all good things
and a bit of good in all evil things.
 
Thus Severian's godhood and immortality based on the gift of a star from the angels is transitory.
He loses that power as soon as it serves their purpose. His more enduring godhood comes as a gift
from the "demonic" undine.
 
[p.s. David, I was reminded of an addition to our discussion of "Author as Demiurge": Gene Wolfe's
home address on St. Croix is 666 Saltimbanque St.- the Satanic Performer]