Subject: Re: (urth) Green <spoiler for _Long Sun_>

From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 10:54:59 +0000

At 09:49 AM 2/25/99 -0000, Kieran wrote:
>And links to the BotNS
>(Pas=Typhon, so what?) would be slightly arbitrary if that's all there was
>to it.

Telling us that Pas was Typhon tells us a great deal about exactly what
kind of man created the Whorl and Mainframe. We don't get a lot of insight
into Pas's mentality throughout _Long Sun_, but we don't need to--we've met
him already, and he's metaphorically Satan. 

Knowing of the evil behind Pas tells us a great deal about the world
against which Silk is striving.

-- 
   Kevin Maroney | Crossover Technologies 
   kmaroney at crossover.com | (212) 777-1190

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

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From: Jack Lyons <revjack at radix.net>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 11:38:52 +0000

On Thu, 25 Feb 1999, Kevin J. Maroney wrote:

:Telling us that Pas was Typhon tells us a great deal about
:exactly what kind of man created the Whorl and Mainframe.
:We don't get a lot of insight into Pas's mentality
:throughout _Long Sun_, but we don't need to--we've met him
:already, and he's metaphorically Satan.

Typhon struck me as more of an "Uebermensch" (Overman), what
happens when a human considers himself without bounds and
acts thusly. c.f. Hitler, Stalin, etc. Typhon was
responsible for too much creation/progress to be Satan,
metaphorically or otherwise. 

-- 
_________________
revjack at radix.net

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From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 12:03:18 +0000

>metaphorically or otherwise. 

This should be moved over to Whorl probably...

In _The Book of the New Sun_, Severian's meeting with Typhon deliberately
echos Christ's temptation in the desert (from Luke and Matthew), complete
with the three temptations. Severian, being more hands-on than Jesus, does
more than order Typhon to get behind him, but it's clear what Typhon is.

In _The Book of the Long Sun_, the builder of the _Whorl_ is very much like
the Demiurge, the false God of This World who tries to distract us from
worshiping the true God. The Demiurge isn't *exactly* Satan, but he's very
close. 

None of what you say is false: Typhon the man is very much like Stalin or
any other despot, moved to the ultimate degree--remaking mountains in his
image, building his own universe of worshippers. But remember that Satan is
the Lord of Pride, which Typhon has in abundance.