Subject: (urth) reflected light

From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 15:33:36 +0000

Thanks Don.

I'm glad you give some credit to my theories. In any case, there was one other 
bit of evidence that many dismissed out of hand - Fr. Inire's mirrors and the 
Big fleshy book of the autarch from Claw of the Conciliator. In the botanical 
gardens of Shadow of the Torturer, there is a fine scene in which Inire's 
mirrors are explained as "reflected light" that can reappear in random places 
of the universe when there is no object there to create them. As a vortex of 
time, perhaps the resonance with Severian allows strange light anomalies in 
the sky. Severian is in some small way a reflection of the light of the New 
Sun, and this light allows him to transcend time - and, of course, I had 
similar thoughts about the cessation of time when reading the opening scenes 
of Book of the Long Sun due to FTL time dilation. And check out the weird 
stuff that goes on when the Autarch opens that book, which Severian seems to 
think is made of his own flesh.

Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or 
light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry into 
the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that 
allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps 
Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would 
respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the 
Exodus that had been foretold. Silk then becomes just another part of the 
program of the whorl. Pretty neat, I guess, even though I don't think Mr. 
Wolfe favors a completely deterministic world view such as that might present.

One more thing - the first time I read that "recollect ther craws, buckie?" 
from Pig I thought he was asking if Silk remembered the cross of Christ from 
his enlightenment - I'm pretty sure his experience with the outsider involved 
an image of a man similar to Christ.  Of course he was refering to crows, but 
I thought maybe it could have been one of those Joycean word plays.  Since Pig 
is a portion of Silk, and Silk is a portion of Silk, perhaps they share that 
memory in common.  Whatever.

Have a nice day, all.
Marc Aramini

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From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 21:01:18 +0000

>>Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or
light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry
into
the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that
allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps
Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would
respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the
Exodus that had been foretold.<<

It seems to me that this a case of the tail wagging the dog. Pas, rather
Typhon, *planned* Silk's enlightenment? Typhon, Urth's baddest bad boy, had
a heart-to-heart with the Outsider and arranged for the Outsider to
enlighten a future clone of himself? And the Outsider went along with it?
Then Typhon had a religious relapse and went back to being the beloved self
that Sev knew and killed?

-Roy

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From: Don Doggett <harlekin at earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 05:27:12 +0000

Marc said:
"Thanks Don.
I'm glad you give some credit to my theories."

You're welcome.  I think they're sound theories, and they're entertaining on
top of that.  (Of course, if they're right, Mr. Wolfe gets the credit.  If
they're wrong, you just have a vivid imagination :)

Marc also said:
"Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or
light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry
into
the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that
allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhaps
Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would
respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the
Exodus that had been foretold. Silk then becomes just another part of the
program of the whorl. Pretty neat, I guess, even though I don't think Mr.
Wolfe favors a completely deterministic world view such as that might
present."

I think that the Outsider has subverted Pas' plan almost from the start, and
sending the Whorl back to Ushas is the culmination, followed closely by the
subversion of Typhon's clone (Silk).

I felt the same as you about Pig's words to Silk.  I imagine it is a play on
the sound of the words to give the sentence dual meaning.  The question I
have is why is it where it's at in the narrative?

Don

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