Subject: (urth) Blue as Ushas

From: Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 09:11:29 +0000

Let us posit--strictly for the sake of argument--that Blue is Ushas. How
does that affect the overall picture Wolfe has drawn in the 12 SUN books?
That is, is it consonant with the religious underpinnings Wolfe has given
the extended series?

Taking the long view, let me summarize: God created the world, didn't like
the way things turned out, wiped the slate clean with a big flood and
started over. Enter Noah. Things still didn't turn out right. Strike two.
Enter Jesus. Things still didn't work out right. Bad Man was worse than
ever; he spread his corruption to other worlds. What to do, what to do? Wipe
the slate clean again with a big flood. Strike three. Enter Severian, the
New Sun. Well, hell, things *still* didn't work out right. Odilo's flock
evidently evolved into the Neighbors (or was supplanted by them), who had
their own foibles. They were so plagued by the inhumi that they fled the
planet (and Lune), leaving behind, not exactly a clean slate, but one wiped
of mankind. Strike four. The Outsider hijacks Typhon's Ark. Enter the
Moses/Christ-like, latter-day Noah/Pas with an ark full of goodies. Within
*one* generation, the new peoples of Ushas-come-Blue are at it
again--feuding, fussing, and fighting--rotten sinners, every bit as bad as
those who got snuffed in the first flood. What to do, what to do? "Let's get
Moses/Jesus/Noah/Pas down here to set things right." Enter Silkhorn. He
samples a few of Blue's settlements, conducts a couple of wars, consorts
with an old nemesis of Urth, realizes he is Silk, wrings his hands, and
says, nope, this ain't for me; I'm outta here. Then he adjusts his halo and
sails off in a worn-out starship for ports unknown with his former
student/alter ego's wife and girlfriend.

Meanwhile, the Neighbors, some iteration or other in mankind's evolution
within God's creation, dodged the bullet. They seem to have escaped the
Outsider's wrath when they abandoned Ushas for other worlds. And the
Outsider is left in the awkward position of having the same damn planet
steeped once again in iniquity, and so soon! Did he hijack Typhon's ship for
nothing? Didn't he see it coming? What to do, what to do?

Parts of the above scenario we are stuck with, such as twice-flooded Urth.
After that point, even an atheist's sense of righteousness gets offended.
How are the Neighbors any less morally culpable than the ignorant, hard
working, innocent peasants who got drowned in the second flood? If Blue is
Ushas of the far future, what was accomplished by the wounding of the old
sun and the coming of the New? Nothing. Mankind is still as rotten as ever,
even on the home planet. The descendants of the First Empire are still
spread all over the galaxy. The Neighbors are out there, somewhere. And Silk
is on his way to . . . spread mankind's sins around to more worlds? This
doesn't make sense to me.

-Roy

--

---

From: Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 11:30:24 +0000

Thanks for the welcome, Roy

I agree with your point here, though perhaps for different reasons. The 
religious aspects are open to a very wide amount of interpretation, and 
whether you believe Blue is Ushas or not you can choose to take it 
negatively and nothing stops you.

I look at the question like this: asking if Blue is Ushas is somewhat akin 
to asking if Ushas is Urth. Perhaps, in a sense, they are? But in the most 
important sense they're different, and have different meanings, which go 
along with the different names. This, to me, is far more important than the 
argument over the means of how Blue might be Ushas. In this sense I feel 
you're dead on in bringing the "higher" level into it.

To Don: Thank you for your welcome as well.

Unfortunately I think your red star is another red herring. Silk did see 
this star at least once, in the enlightenment given him by the Outsider, 
along with a lot of other knowledge of history, etc. One can easily argue 
that Silk's enlightenment is false or partially mistaken (certainly Crane 
would agree). But to attack that is to attack a lot of other things, some of 
which are integral to all of our understanding of the novels.

CP

>That is, is it consonant with the religious underpinnings Wolfe has given

_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

--