(urth) theories

[Lee Berman]

>Dan'l Danehy-Oakes- Well, Lee, you have never explained it to my satisfaction either. I
>simply do not see what the interpretive benefit of this theory (finding Inire everywhere) 
>is, or how to reconcile it with the plain face value of, e.g., the death of Dorcas's 
>husband. There is no textual reason to believe that Inire can "pinch off" subroutines like
>Tzad, and even if I take it as a given, I don't see the value of Dorcas's husband being Inire.
>Can you clarify this so that a dummy like me can understand it?
 
Hm. I'm not sure I could summarize 7 years of contributions in a meaningful way in one post.
But as a request from a long-time (longer than me), insightful, pleasant and respectful member
of this forum I will try.
 
First, I don't see Inire as "everywhere". That is just a derisive attribution given by those
hater-types who hope to undercut the theory with a quick reductio ad absurdum quip. There must 
be hundreds of characters in BotNS. Of those I find less than a dozen possible Father Inire
appearances. Why is that such an outrageous possibility in a work of Fantasy/SF?

second, Dorcas' husband as a potential candidate seems to be very problematic for many. 
Because he is dead? He does look dead. Perhaps he is, perhaps he isn't. Doesn't matter.
Why should it, if the various appearances of Inire are accomplished with multiple bodies?
 
You think there is no textual reason to believe Inire might be a pinched off version of a
larger being? What is the textual reason for showing us that process clearly with Tzadkiel?
In my reading of Wolfe, we are shown certain things clearly so that we may understand that
they are happening not-so-clearly in other parts of the story.
 
Regarding the value of the Father Inire story to solving mysteries, I suppose we would have
to agree on what is a mystery. I would say the majority of criticism of the theory boils down
to people saying, "That's not a mystery. That's nothing".

Which is fine, for them. I happen to find a great deal of mystery in this book which is not
explainable by a mundane shrug of the shoulder. Of course, Father Inire encompasses a large
portion of these mysteries. Severian too. Too much to summarize here.
 
Dorcas might be a little more manageable. I find her past to be mysterious in ways not explained
simply by her resurrection nor even her status as Severian's grandmother. Why does she consider
herself to be a hateful spectre?  What is the meaning of her dream in which her baby turns into 
a lump of filth? Why are the memories of her sitting in a window so important? Why does she have
vampiric dreams? Why would she feel corrupted and soiled just because she was a shopkeeper wife?
 
I can't even deal with all that here. Let me just focus on the window memory as an example. If we
accept that Dorcas' husband is Inire and we accept that Fechin is Inire, that mystery is solved.
The old person in Casdoe's cabin tells a story about Fechin's romantic meeting with a beautiful
young woman who sits in a window. I think she is Dorcas. 
 
Multiply that connection by 20 or 30 times and you get the rationale for why I find the Father 
Inire theory helpful. It takes weird loose ends like that all through the story and ties them
together. If it doesn't work for others, I understand. But it works for me and I'll answer 
questions about it to (almost) all those who ask.