Subject: (urth) Infrequently Asked Question Answered

From: David Lebling <dlebling at shore.net>
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 08:54:57 +0000

> From: "Talarican" <exultnttalarican at mindspring.com>
> III:XXXIII At Castle Baldanders, when Famulimus and Barbatus set Sev
> straight regarding their lifespan, Baldanders interjects with "These
things
> live only a score of years, like dogs". His tone "told [Sev] more than is
> written here, for each word fell like a stone dropped down some deep
>  cistern". Aside from the contempt obvious in B's choice of words, what
did
> his tone convey to Severian?

This one at least seems fairly clear.  Baldanders' goal is, on more than one
occasion, stated to be eternal life.  Famulimus and Barbatus have "awesome
cosmic power" but very short lifespans.  Baldanders thinks they've
completely missed the point.

Recall that there is a certain strain of C. S. Lewis in the hierodules'
attitudes: Lewis believed (or at least wrote, in _Out of the Silent Planet_)
that space colonization and the desire for immortality were sins.
Baldanders embodies one of these sins, Typhon both; the cacogens neither.
Their humility is certainly presented as a positive thing, contrasting with
Baldanders' creepy Dr. Frankenstein-ish experiments (not unlike those in
_That Hideous Strength_) and later, Typhon's equally nasty attempt at
eternal life.

Have you ever noticed that none of Wolfe's space colonies seem to be very
happy places?
(Then again, I suppose none of Wolfe's _places_ seem to be very happy.)

    Dave Lebling
    (aka vizcacha)

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

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 10:26:26 +0000

> that space colonization and the desire for immortality were sins.

I don't think Lewis thought colonization and immortality were themselves
sinful.  It would be more accurate to say he thought either one would be
disasterous because of sin's corruption of humanity.  To colonize the
universe would be to spread corruption to possibly untainted planets.  
And since death provides a chronological limit to how bad a person can
become, immortality would make it possible for someone to become more and
more evil forever.

-Rostrum