Subject: (urth) Fechin

From: Robert Borski <rborski at coredcs.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:37:45 +0000

Is anybody beside me disturbed by how often Fechin's name is mentioned in
the Book of the New Sun? He seems to be extraordinarily well known for an
artist, given the nature of the Commonwealth and its citizenry, in an age
where there seems to be little in the way of  media dissemination. Yes,
it's expected the upper classes might be familiar with his work, but he
seems almost to have cult status. I also find it odd that two of the
characters we meet--Rudeskind, who claims Fechin sketched him as a youth;
and old Becan's father, high in the faraway mountains, who claims to have
been a childhood friend--both assert personal knowledge of him.  

On the other hand, what I find interesting is how many people are soon
claiming they know Severian once he's become Autarch. Rudeskind, oddly
enough of all people, is the first to point this out, observing, in a long,
long series of examples,  "Been a while now since I met a woman didn't kiss
you and sew up a hole in your pants...You're every boy that's ever been
here, and I've heard stories put on you that belong to men that was old
when I was just a boy, and I've heard about things I did myself, seventy
years ago."

Severian also lists "artisan" when he talks about the commonality of most
of the previous autarchs.

Just a thought, but is it possible Fechin was an autarch who was once a
painter?

Robert Borski

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 16:10:00 +0000

Robert Borski,

That Fechin may have been autarch would appear to be quite difficult
to prove in the text, but it doesn't seem impossible.

I share your interest in Fechin as a mysterious, invisible thread
that connects elements otherwise impossibly removed (the Old Man of
Becan's house and Rudesind of Nessus).  But my inspiration is that
this odd "coincidence," whatever the semantic/thematic significance
of the touchstone actually is and/or might be, this echo, as I say,
signals what I am henchforth beginning to publically call a "station
of the sundial."

There, I've probably blown most of the thunder potential for an
essay. So I might as well muddle through a bit more.

There are scenes in Severian's narrative that are clear and obvious
echoes to other scenes contained within the text.  Rudesind himself
is an obvious example: the second time we see him, we wonder along
with Severian.  Is the whole second Rudesind scene just to put extra
push to the "corridors of the Library stretch far beyond Nessus"
metaphor?  No, of course not--but it sure seems like it at very
first, because the effect includes "reality confusion" in reader and
Severian.

(In addition to anything else, the thread between Old Man and
Rudesind, between wilderness hut and vast cosmopolitan city, serves
to deflate Severian of any sense he may have of "escape,"
"isolation," "progress," etc.  It is as if he is still in the Old
Citadel he was born and raised in.)

Another very clear case is when scenes from "Eschatology & Genesis"
are echoed or prefigured.  This happens in at least three obvious
places--Severian's experience in the Botanic Gardens (long before he
is exposed to the play itself) is close to Scene I; Valeria (who has
never been exposed to the play) on the throne as the deluge comes
enacts Scene III; and everybody's favorite mysterious Contessa (V,
ch. 41) from Scene IV.

What I am saying is that these echoes amount to the hands of a clock
returning to a position on the clockface, or, to keep with the solar
images, the shadow of the gnomon returning to an hour on the sundial.

If I remember correctly, a similar echo went on with the Green man
hero of THERE ARE DOORS--stepping between realities and/or
"billypilgriming," to use that wonderful term, and yet often winding
up back at the play or the boxing match or another tableau.

(In fact Billy Pilgrim has this exact same thing: he tends to go back
to select moments of his life, the most visited being the nadir of
Dresden.  Billy Pilgrim never blips to one of the mundane moments
of everyday life that knit together the touchstones that form his
"stations"; Billy never lives real time in real time.  But now I =am=
wandering away . . . Billy's story is more one of a life's trials and
a few joys revisited from near the end of life as if in memory, yet
made concrete.  The Wolfe stories are more of one's present tense
life being shaped by unseen forces and patterns.)

=mantis=

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From: Kieran Cleary <kierannwn at tinet.ie>
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 15:42:12 +0000

mantis,

I don't have Lexicon Urthus to hand, so you probably already have this, but
seeing as St. Fechin's 7th century church is in my locale, I should report
that:

"Legend tells us that St. Fechin was of the royal blood of Ireland, a
descendent of Fionn Fuathart, brother to Conn of the Hundred Battles, and of
the same race as St. Bridget. St. Nathy of Achonry supposedly educated St.
Fechin. The Annals tell us that St. Fechin was also abbot at Cong in County
Mayo and at Fore in Westmeath. He died in 664 AD.", Archaeology in County
Sligo, Highwood Community Resource Centre, 1998

FWIW.

Kieran C.

North West Labs
Finisklin Industrial Estate
Sligo
Republic of Ireland

Tel. +353 71 69441
Fax. +353 71 69451
email: kierannwn at tinet.ie

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Dec 1998 18:28:00 +0000

Hello Sligo (and hello Kieran Cleary)!

Well we do have some info on Fechin via THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF
SAINTS (which mentions the Co. Sligo), but the stingy Lexicon only
says "Saint Fechin died 665" (date from Oxford book, at odds with
your date) because I couldn't find any hint leading to "artist,"
"portraits," or even "painting" or "art" (i.e., threads leading to
Fechin of Urth) connected with this saint.

According to the Old Man in Casdoe's house, Fechin of Urth had red
hair on his head and arms (III, ch. 15).  So that's an easy
association with "Irish" right there (it also links back to
journeyman Roche's red hair, which prompted the autarch-as-procurer
to speak about how "Far to the south, in the narrow lands, the
savages paint a fire spirit much like you" [I, ch. 9] . . . ), but it
isn't much to go on.

According to the Oxford, Fechin is also known as Vigean, which
"corrupted to Virgin" (I like that!).  Fechin had a cult in Scotland.

Trying to deduce the name of the Old Man in Casdoe's house by
triangulating "Rudesind" with "Fechin," in the hope that these two
saints might have a saintly friend in common (ooh, clever!), makes
the "crash and burn at the starting gate" as Rudesind is a 10th
century fellow!

Maybe somebody can find the root meaning (onomastic) of Fechin (it
ain't in any of my books), and maybe this has some connection to
Fechin of Urth.

=mantis=

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From: Derek Bell <dbell at maths.tcd.ie>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 20:05:33 +0000

>savages paint a fire spirit much like you" [I, ch. 9] . . . ), but it

	Just to note that Irish people aren't really that more
redhaired than most other European peoples. Unfortunately, I don't
have figures to back that up, but I haven't noticed any visible difference.

>"corrupted to Virgin" (I like that!).  Fechin had a cult in Scotland.

	I wouldn't be surprised if Fechin or some of his monks founded
a church or even monastery in Scotland - it's not too far from Sligo
to Scotland.

	Derek