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<pre wrap="">That's a fine answer, especially the second part.
However, to be fair, Severian also remarks on tree stumps having been petrified, and then performs one of the speculations for which he is notorious, without pointing even slightly in the direction of hubris. Perhaps these can also be read as opportunities for Severian to be Severian.
David
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:49:58 -0600
From: Jeff Wilson <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:jwilson@io.com"><jwilson@io.com></a>
Subject: Re: (urth) House Absolute
To: The Urth Mailing List <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:urth@lists.urth.net"><urth@lists.urth.net></a>
Message-ID: <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:4936FF06.5020501@io.com"><4936FF06.5020501@io.com></a>
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Tim Walters wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span>It's also debatable that Urt's core really is cooling. The learned Ultan
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span>and Palaemon seem to get most of their education from the piles of books
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span>in the Library, and may have no way to know which books have outdated
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span>theories; they may have enjoyed Bellamy's _Looking Backward_and gotten
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span>the notion that the refrigeration of the earth is a foregone conclusion
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">>> </span> in the wisdom of the ancients.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>What's the artistic point of the cliff scene, world-famous for its
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>evocation of deep time, if not to show that a gazillion years have passed?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
To show that many, many human societies have arisen, fallen, and been
trampled unto dust, and the dust piled upon dust until it has become
fused into rock. Wolfe may be one-upping Shelly: Not only is there
nothing left of Ozymandias' works but sand and fragments, but they are
deeply buried by the sand and fragments from his dozens of peers who
followed.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>What's the artistic point of mentioning the cooling of Urth's core, if not
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>to show that a gazillion years have passed?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
To show the ironically ignorant nature of the far future civilization (
paraphrasing "there is another word for it I can't recall, but lightning
is what makes it go") who continue to be brought down by human hubris in
their attempts to ascend to godlike heights of wisdom.
<div class="moz-txt-sig">--
Jeff Wilson - <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:jwilson@io.com">jwilson@io.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.io.com/%7Ejwilson">< http://www.io.com/~jwilson ></a>
------------------------------</div></pre>
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