<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><span><br></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Lee Berman <severiansola@hotmail.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> "urth@urth.net" <urth@urth.net> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, April 11, 2013 4:12 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight:
bold;">Subject:</span></b> (urth) fifth head owlet- wolf‏<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br><br>For me, the implication of 5HoC is that the natives of the twin planets are eons<br>old in their existence. They are currently human in form but likely have taken<br>different forms in their history as different races were drawn to their planet. <br>Dollo's Law (an archaic theory which is being disproven more and more as genetic<br>science progresses) could not have allowed shadow/children/abos to lose their <br>shape-shifting ability or they would have lost it long ago.<br><br>>I like your idea, but mine points to successful mimicry while invoking a dozen >angels/fairies/mermaids/robots-becoming-mortal tropes. Not to mention that imitation <br>>is the path to >improvement <br><br>I see little hope that the pseudo-human residents we find in 5HoC will evolve to<br>the point of being industrious, productive humans. But I allow
that is a debateable<br>point.<br><br>But for me, Urth, Blue and Green and even The Whorl are more hopeful <br>places than Ste. Anne and St. Croix. I found 5HoC to be such a dark and dismal<br>read I almost didn't want to read any further Wolfe. Apologies for my cheery <br>outlook on life. But I think science and Gene Wolfe have both progressed in positivity <br>in outlook since the 70's.<br><br>I see the association with higher beings and improvement depicted in Wolfe's later work<br>but not in 5HoC. That place is falling apart with no hint of a Severian or Silk arising <br>to lead them to a higher plane. <br><br><br>---I don't see what those points have to do with one another, or rather, why they have to point in that direction. I agree that the theme of 5HC seems to be staleness and stasis. But so what, then, if the changelings of the twin
planets are worthless as humans? I would expect nothing less. What angel would even want to uplift them? <br></div> </div> </div> </blockquote></div> </div></body></html>