(urth) The Wizard

[Craig Brewer]

I forget which interview it is where Wolfe says that Silk is a member of the "Order of the Seekers of Truth and Penitence" ... which I think a lot of people (me included) interpreted as saying not that he's secretly a torturer, but that he and the Seekers are actually members of "The Church."

But the logic here can be taken in a weak and a strong sense.

The weak sense is that they're all touched by a "real God' in some vague way: for Silk, it's the Outsider's revelation; for Severian, it's whatever motivates him to try to act like Christ (the whole Christ-figure, not actual Christ thing). But it's a very generally spiritual and admittedly vague connection of membership in a spiritual or religious "community."

The strong sense, though, suggests that the Guild is actually the Church. I mean, I once thought the Guild was an actual forgotten descendant and corruption of the Catholic Church. (That was before the list had me worried about multiple universes, and I just assumed that the story was about "our future".) If both characters receive some kind of direct revelation, and both are actually part of "The Church," how much does it really matter that this might be occurring in a universe without a historical Christ or in an iteration of a universe before there was an actual Christ (our own)?

My point is really that I don't quite understand the significance of the argument over whether the Christian symbolism which we all agree is one way or another "there" in the book must be read as pre-Christian or forgotten-Christian. I assumed that the whole setup basically sets an actual awareness of "true theology" at a vast distance from these characters, and their revelations and moments of grace are always both frustrating and illuminating because they're in a culture that both needs and resists those moments. In other words, when thinking about what Severian or Silk actually experience and about their narrative arcs, does it matter whether or not this world actually had a Christ? Either way, these characters know nothing about the historical events, and that's what really matters. It's their distance from the truth (no matter which direction in time) that gives their stories a real spiritual tension and urgency.



________________________________
 From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
To: urth at urth.net 
Sent: Friday, March 9, 2012 12:10 PM
Subject: (urth) The Wizard
 

>Gerry Quinn: So I don’t see how you can argue that Christianity is not mentioned.

Because it isn't. Quasi-Christian symbols and concepts can be found from pre-Christ
times on earth. Notably in the Egyptian and Roman cultures from which the Whorl society
is most closely modelled upon.  

I don't think the presence of Christian-like symbols in ancient times means that means 
Christianity existed before Jesus Christ. So I don't think similar symbols in the story 
need indicate Christianity in the Sun Series.

In a previous post I agreed with the possibility of the scenario Dan'l recently 
posted: That Silk's vision of a Jesus-like guy was in fact Jesus Christ of earth
and the Outsider draws the image from across universes to provide that vision. Like 
Dan'l, I don't see much evidence of a Christ on Urth. Postulating a secret, hidden, 
society of Christians somewhere on Urth and unmentioned by the author just isn't very 
convincing.

If you are unwilling to acknowlege that quasi-Christian symbolism existed before
Christ on earth I could sorta see how the "sign of addition" might appear as proof 
postive that Christ existed on Urth. Still I would think the presence of haruspicy
(divination via animal entrails) and augury (divination via flight patterns of birds)
by the priests of Viron would at least hint that this is a pre-Christian, pagan sort 
of religion.


                            
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