Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!

Charles Dye · 20 Sep 1995, 02:02 · from sf-lovers.1995.mbox

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From: raster at terra.com (Charles Dye)
Subject: Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 95 02:02:42 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v20-369-8 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V20 #369
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-20b

SEVERIAN UNMASKED:

Gene Wolfe's "The Book of the New Sun" epic is one of the most complex,
ambitious masterworks in the field of science fiction.  Wolfe draws upon
dozens of literary sources to enrich his world; I will cover a few here.
My intentions in posting this explication are twofold: first, to enrich the
Severian experience for those who have missed some of Wolfe's references;
second, I'd like to hear from others who have insights I don't.

I, SEVERIAN:

The work most frequently referenced in "The Book of the New Sun" is Robert
Graves's "Claudius" cycle.  I have a horrible suspicion that the grave
robbers in Chapter I of "Shadow" are there partly as a punning homage to
Graves.  Certainly there are too many similarities between the two works to
be explained by coincidence.

"I, Claudius" is the autobiography of the Roman Emperor, Claudius,
"translated" by Robert Graves.  Claudius stresses the point that he is
writing the story himself: "I am my own mere secretary...."  He intends his
manuscript for an audience in the distant future, and at one point
considers the idea of sealing it in a lead casket for safekeeping.

"The Book of the New Sun" is the autobiography of the Autarch Severian,
"translated" by Gene Wolfe.  Severian also does his own writing,
"... sitting up writing all night here in the clerestory."  He decides to
send his story to a distant time, possibly even a different universe, by
sealing it "in a coffer of lead" and launching it from Tzadkiel's starship.

Both Claudius and Severian have a tendency to write long, complicated
sentences.  Claudius's writing style mimics his stumbling tongue, too slow
to keep up with his darting thoughts; Severian's perfect memory allows him
to match subject to verb despite any numbers of intervening clauses.

Claudius and Severian are both lame (Claudius has a withered leg, Severian
a battle wound.)  Both become Emperor through unlikely twists of Fate.
Both lead armies into battle, and successfully prosecute a war.  Both are
deified after their deaths.  Severian's gentle brutality reflects
Claudius's patrician tyranny.

Claudius' wife, during the early part of his reign, is the lady Valeria
Messalina.  Severian, shortly after assuming the throne, marries a lady
named Valeria.  Since Valeria is a heliotropic (sun-seeking) plant, this is
a case of Wolfe bettering Graves!

"The Book of the New Sun" is littered with dozens, if not hundreds, of
similar references.  If you have not read "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the
God", you are missing much of "The Book of the New Sun", as well as a work
of literature which is great in its own right.

SEVERIAN AS CHRIST:

Most of the references to Jesus Christ in the "Book of the New Sun" are too
obvious to give special mention to: Severian heals the sick, brings the
dead to life (and vice versa, of course), changes water into wine, et
cetera.  More subtle, I think, is Severian's encounter with Typhon in
Chapter XXVI of "The Sword of the Lictor".  Typhon's offers correspond
exactly with Satan's temptations of Christ in Matthew, chapter 4: bread
from stones, flight, power over the world.  This chapter (in "Sword") also
hints darkly at "The Inferno".  Severian's confusion at "descending" from
the mountain's lap to its summit recalls Dante's puzzlement at Virgil's
descent/ascent from Hell.  Oddly enough, Typhon only gets two heads and one
sinner to chew on.

SEVERIAN, THE MEMORIOUS:

The character of Severian benefits somewhat from "Funes, the Memorious" in
the short story of the same name by Jorge Luis Borges (about whom more
later).  Funes has a mind crippled by a perfect memory.  He is incapable of
any level of abstraction; since dog-1 (asleep, at 10:20 am) is so obviously
different from dog-2 (playing outdoors at 10:25), Funes is unable to
consider them aspects of the same dog, or even to put the same name to
them.

Severian, on the other hand, seems an absolute philosopher of abstraction.
However, he does hint that his gift may be linked to "poor judgement" and
at one point even states baldly that he is insane.  Certainly he does
display a certain messianic madness at times.

TERMINUS EST:

A "terminus" is the end of the line, of course.  Severian does not know,
but Wolfe certainly does, that the "terminator" is the division between
night and day on a planet's surface.  The sword's name could be translated
"Edge of Day".

MASTER ULTAN:

His character is drawn partly from Claudius' history tutors, Athenodorus
and Sulpicius.  (Ultan at one point mentions a reading room reserved for
the use of "the Autarch Sulpicius".)  Athenodorus is described as
possessing a large, perfectly white beard stretching to his waist, and a
gentle wisdom.  Sulpicius is the human Dewey-decimal catalog, who will
always "know what authority had treated of these points, in which book, and
from which shelf of which case in which room of which library they were to
be obtained."

However, the character of Master Ultan derives mostly from a real man,
Jorge Luis Borges.  Borges is considered the greatest Argentine writer.
When he realized that his vision was failing, Borges set to work memorizing
great quantities of literature.  After becoming completely blind, Borges
was named director of the Argentine National Library in Buenos Aries.

Borges's "Fictions" deliberately muddy the distinction between truth and
fiction, giving them a slippery, eerily vague air.  Borges himself would be
delighted to know that he has taken on new life as a fictional character.

(And how would Gene Wolfe feel about similar treatment?  Little Severian,
demanding a bedtime story, states: "It should have wolfs in it.")

ONWARD, UPWARD

Severianology is a new science.  When, one fine day, the critical world
outside of "science fiction" discovers "New Sun", we can expect to see many
scholarly dissections and annotations of Wolfe's work.  Until that day
dawns, however, information is scarce and hard to come by.  If you have
insights that you'd like to share, post them here, or email me.

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