Digest urth.v022.n046
The Urth list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 18 Feb 1999
https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1375

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Kieran Mullen — 18 Feb 1999, 10:44

> From: "William H. Ansley" <wansley at warwick.net>
> Subject: The Wonderful Eyeflash of Oz, part 4
> Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:29:41 -0500

[Deletia]

> Hearing this, Little Tib tries to remember what a leopard looks like but
> cannot. He then tries to visualize a cat. At first he cannot, but then he
> succeeds and an image appears in front of him. But it is not a cat, but a
> lion standing on its hind legs with a red ribbon knotted in its mane. It is
> dancing and Little Tib joins it in the dance. After he has danced for some
> time he is grabbed from behind by many hands. He realizes that he has been
> dancing in the air over the lookout point, with a very long drop below him.

   This is Christic imagery, too.  From the temptation in the desert, where
the Devil quotes scripture about angels bearing up the messiah if he should
fall.  IIRC, Tib casts demons out of the computer system, no?  

   I slapped my head when I finally saw that Typhon's temptations of
Severian are just a replay of the temptations of Christ. (Food, casting
from a height, all the cities stretched out before you if you submit
to me.  Doh!)

                      Kieran Mullen

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William H. Ansley — 18 Feb 1999, 23:03
  follows, by subject match Kieran Mullen

> > Kieran Mullen <kieran at brigit.nhn.ou.edu> wrote:
> > He realizes that he has been
> > dancing in the air over the lookout point, with a very long drop below him.

>   This is Christic imagery, too.  From the temptation in the desert, where
> the Devil quotes scripture about angels bearing up the messiah if he should
> fall.  IIRC, Tib casts demons out of the computer system, no?

Quite so. And you do recall correctly; I will be getting to the Gaderine
Computer scene eventually.

There is a *lot* of Christic imagery in "The Eyeflash Miracles," as I note
in my first posting. I am deliberately ignoring this, except occasionally
when it ties in with the Oz imagery. Wolfe manages to combine the two in
clever and complex ways, as you might expect. This doesn't mean I don't
welcome your comments; I do. And I would be glad to hear from anyone else
who wants to comment on Christic imagery in "The Eyeflash Miracles."

William Ansley

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