Subject: (urth) E&G scene by scene

From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 02:30:00 +0000

[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Oh, look!  While looking for something else, as is so often the case,
I found these notes on "Eschatology and Genesis," dating from May
1994.  It appears that I called the divisions "scenes" back then, and
I counted six--all of which just goes to show how far I've fallen
since those heady days of yore.

Scene I: (the Garden)
     Gabriel
     Nod
     Meschia (Adam/Fool)
     Meschiane (Eve)
     Autarch (as False God)
     Jahi (as Lilith [to Adam]/consort to False God)
     Contessa ([her name is] Carina)
     Maid

[A lot of Scene I is pre-echoed by events in the Botanical Gardens of
Nessus involving Severian, Dorcas, Agia, Hildegrin; with cameo by
"Charonus" the nameless boatman as "Gabriel."]

Scene II: (under a rowan tree)
     Meschiane (victor [of fight with Jahi], hence Queen of _____)
     Jahi (claims strength of Underworld, causes snow)
     Ivo (first soldier) captures Jahi
     [Second soldier]
     Statue (seduced by Jahi)

(note: rowan = quickbeam aka "tree of life," Graves, WHITE GODDESS)

[The comedic surprise here is that nice girl Meschiane won in the
fistfight with riot grrrl Jahi.  Shades of Hyacinth, that--playing
kittenish when Adam is around, but look out when he's not present!]

(Convulsor and Conciliator: when Sev is hit by convulsor in URTH,
there is an earthquake; as in Scene II where stabbing Meschiane leads
to an earthquake.)

(Curse of the Conciliator: when Sev as Conciliator curses town of Os
and raises a storm, this echoes Scene II where Jahi causes snow to
fall.)

Scene III: (underground palace)
     Autarch (Typhon [to Conciliator]/Valeria [to New Sun])
     Prophet (Severian/Conciliator/Jader's sister)
     Nod [Baldanders to Valeria]
     Generalissimo
     First Demon
     Second Demon (B, F, & O; or Erebeus and Abaia)
     (razing of grounds)
     (Fight between Autarch and Nod echoes Severian vs. Baldanders)

Scene IV: (torture chamber)
     Inquisitor
     Familiar
     Contessa (wants to offer herself as new Eve: three women
[Meschiane, Jahi, Contessa], Judgement of Paris?)
     Meschiane
     Jahi
     Nod
     First Soldier

Scene V: (House Absolute again)
     Jahi (hider)
     Second Demon
     Nod (seeker)

Scene VI: (torture chamber again)
     Familiar
     Autarch
     Meschiane
     Nod
     [The fight between Nod and Familiar has clear and obvious
connections to the fight between Baldanders and Severian as well as
the puppet theater dream which foretold both]

Scene VII: (arrival of New Sun?)
     Angelic Beings
     The New Sun
     The Old Sun
     The Moon

[Note how in Ushas, Severian "dreams" that Valeria is weeping over
him but wakes up to see Lune surrounded by clouds from which rain
falls upon his face.  Also how Valeria's assassination can be seen as
a solar eclipse; Valeria is Moon to Severian's New Sun.]

+++++++++++++++++++++++

=Scenes as Days of [Divine] Week=
SCENE DAY         PLANET
I.....Monday......Moon--Jahi as Moon [now I think Meschiane is Moon]
II....Tuesday.....Mars--appearance of soldiers
III...Wednesday...Mercury--underworld and prophets
IV....Thursday....Jupiter
V.....Friday......Venus [this is Jahi, I'm thinking]
VI....Saturday....Saturn--autarch usurped [unrecognized in his own
palace]

VII...Sunday......Sun--arrival of New Sun

[END OF NOTES]