Rudesind of the Apes

mournings glory · 25 May 2006, 23:18 · from 2006-May.txt.gz

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From: mourningsglory at hotmail.com (mournings glory)
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 23:18:02 +0000
Subject: (urth) Rudesind of the Apes
In-Reply-To: <20060525221158.62828.qmail at web32401.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F1136CEAFFFD816792E36D6D8990 at phx.gbl>

>From: don doggett

>This does not necessarily negate bsharp's argument -
>that Inire is possibly  disguised as the human
>Rudesind.

Except that there's no reason for Inire to disguise himself as a would-be 
painter. It serves neither function nor purpose. So why do it, and to what 
end? Rudesind is not like jungle-shaman-Inire who must disguise himself from 
Vodalus and Agia in order to make sure the autarchy is passed on from Appian 
to Severian; nor is he like the nameless cowled servitor in the House 
Absolute who may not even be trying to disguise himself, but is simply more 
or less dismissed by an unobservant Severian half-lost in the fugue of 
thought. Rudesind encounters Severian only three times, and each time we get 
elaborate backstory, rich with unnecessary details; but why "pretend" to be 
human so you can give directions to the library, lecture Severian about the 
green room, or pass on a letter written to the new autarch by Father Inire 
-- who is yourself? In the latter regard, now that Severian has legitimately 
claimed the Phoenix Throne, why doesn't Rudesind simply unmask himself and 
say, "Hey, it's me, monkeyface -- jokes on you."? Because there's no reason 
for him to continue the disguise, nor for that matter ever to have donned it 
in the first place.

Furthermore, dismissing the naming conventions of saint, myth, and monster, 
and then claiming that a shape-shifting, mask-wearing, alien could be 
anyone, even including a shadow child from St. Anne, you wind up with a 
farrago of chaos --not a novel by Gene Wolfe.

z q x (alphamorph)

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