(urth) The Wizard

[Daniel Petersen]

Yeah, Lee, the whole point in Wolfe is for there to be few and oblique
Christian references that are completely outnumbered and
out-everything-elsed that still end up subverting the hordes of 'pagan'
overlords.  It's genius, even if one doesn't agree with him.  And he's a
generous storyteller, not a cranky crank trying to condemn everyone.  He
graciously invites readers to hear the Outsider and be part of Silk's
revolution, exodus, and new frontier.

-DOJP

On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 6:33 PM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> >Daniel Petersen: Aw, come on, guys.  It's not too hard to
> >know which is 'primary' for Wolfe.
>
> Heh. The funny thing is that I would tend to agree with you
> if your position was that pagan/gnostic religious references
> were primary in the Sun Series. That is what seems obvious to
> me. There are so many of them and so few Christian references.
> Do we need to do a list/count to corroborate this?
>
> On the other hand, I could see how quality might trump quantity
> for a Christian reader reading a Christian author. One "sign of
> addition" could outshine a hundred Typhons and Tzadkiels and
> Sphigxs and Scyllas and Echidnas and Thyones and Thelxiepeias.
> Perhaps such a secret, Christian insider code is what Wolfe was
> going for.  I dunno. I've spent a lot of time reading Wolfe
> interviews about his work and I get a different impression.
>
> >Gerry Quinn: So why do you think Wolfe put Jesus in?  To confuse
> >people?  There was nothing that obliged him to put in the reference.
> >Or if he really did want to say that Jesus in Silk’s universe was
> >not Christ, he could have put some hint in here.  (But then why does
> >the Outsider show him to Silk?).
>
> I don't find it confusing. The biggest hint I find is that The Outsider
> is a dark god. Darkness defines Him. I assume Jesus in that universe was
> a dark, Outsider prophet, like Severian. Thus both were shown to Silk.
>
> There is a similarity of the Outsider to Dionysus/Great God Pan/Green Man,
> who is a dark pagan god in our universe in contrast to the light of the
> Christian God and saviour.
>
> >[Wolfe] said he was thinking about cosmic cycles, and he does suggest
> that the
> >Solar cycle takes place some time in such a series.  It’s part of the
> >story, in fact.  It’s by no means obvious whether Urth exists in a past,
> >future or current iteration.
>
> It is not fully clear in the story. But Wolfe makes it explicitly clear in
> interviews:
>
> >JJ: This universe that you set in Briah, or part of it--is that our
> universe?...
>
> >GW: No. I thought of it as a long past universe. Something that we are
> repeating
> >rather than something that we are.
>
> We hear Gene Wolfe's own voice on that video interview say that the
> universe of
> Wizard/Knight is not a Christian universe. He is similarly explicit about
> a Christ-
> absence in There Are Doors:
>
> >GW: This is the Christian world. That world is not the Christian world.
> That world
> >is kind of a warmed-over pagan world.
>
> I see this as a theme across much of Wolfe's work. The importance of
> Christ and the
> Light is demonstrated by creating dark worlds and universes without Him.
>  That such
> places resemble pre-Christian earth is no surprise.
>
> I don't insist that every reader must see it this way. But I find it a
> pretty valid
> viewpoint supported by a lot more evidence than, say French wine tasting
> ;- ).
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