(urth) Father Inire as Dionysus

[David Stockhoff]

On 10/24/2011 11:40 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
> I might be more inclined to agree that Dorcas' husband is just some guy if it weren't for
> the fact that there are two other old boatmen who also like to talk about undines. The
> old boatman's association with young teen Dorcas seems to parallel the questionable
> nature of Maxellindis' uncle to young teen Maxellindis.

Maxellindis's uncle says he sleeps in his boat. LU says Ca's husband 
sleeps in a rented room. So they are clearly different people. But old 
boatmen do seem to be a motif.

For a boatman to be Charon, there should be a death or a return close 
by. Hmmm...

> That particular issue of Ultan has not been discussed much, nor recently. But yes. If
> Ultan is a version of Father Inire it probably places him as both maternal and paternal
> grandfather to Severian. Ultan is surely presented as a kindly, benign character. But
> as has been discussed with David Stockhoff, there are some things Ultan says which seem to
> associate him with satanic ritual (not to mention his look of greedy hunger in discussing
> the eating of the dead).

I want to note that since Ultan is blind, he lacks the self-restraint of 
facial expression most people have. So his grimace of hunger for 
knowledge is suggestive but perhaps should not be taken to mean he 
actually eats dead people for their knowledge. The people whose brains 
he wants to eat are long, long gone.

>
> That stuff about Ultan is to be expected if he is Father Inire, who is associated with
> pagan gods, fallen angels, gnostic demons, witchcraft etc. Not that these things are
> inherently "bad". They are just dark. The dark which comes before the light.

What connects Ultan to Inire here? His hunger for knowledge? Or the 
means he may use to get it?