General Observation on Lupinologists (was Re: Urth before Earth)

b sharp · 21 Jul 2006, 12:45 · from 2006-July.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:45:23 -0400
Subject: (urth) General Observation on Lupinologists (was Re: Urth before
	Earth)
Message-ID: <BAY103-F180D846C61F58F629722DDD7660 at phx.gbl>

Coming from a scientific background, I agree with both JWillard and Dan'l.  
People should pursue their own theories but temper them with an awareness of 
how personal bias can be misleading.  After you've done your best to make an 
objective analysis, submit your ideas to peer review for further refinement 
or rejection.  I've refined and rejected plenty of my own ideas based on the 
feedback I've received here and I hope to continue the process.

Regarding Father Inire, I've always wondered about him, but if you'd asked 
me a year ago I would have said I thought his only appearance is as the 
cowled servitor who guides Severian to the thiasus.  As I started reading 
critical analyses of BotNS this year,  Robert Borski and a couple others 
seemed to find a bunch of Inire appearances.  Pursuing that line of thought 
myself has finally shed a  light on what I've always thought of as the 
central mystery of this series- Severian's family tree.

Borski seems to view Inire as a Moses-like guide for the people of Urth, 
guiding them to the promised land of Ushas (hmph, some salvation).  I don't 
agree; there are plenty of clues that Father Inire and the Cumaean do not 
have humanity's best interests at heart.  Nor do I agree that Ossipago and 
Palaemon and Ceryx are Inire or that the couple that are landed on Urth on 
Flood Day are Inire and the Cumaean etc. etc.  A lot of disagreement. But if 
Borski had just kept his ideas to himself I would have lost a valuable 
inspiration.

Dan'l says:
>I'm certainly not about to dismiss B's suggestion that Fechin is Father 
>Inire, but neither am
>I simply accepting it; I would want to see it, as you say, supported, by 
>clear textual evidence (rather than "it fits the overall pattern"-- 
>_unless_ the pattern is already _overwhelmingly_ >established).

Consider Inire, Fechin, Rudesind and the boatman. Fechin and Rudesind are 
connected by art.  Rudesind and Inire are connected through the Curator 
guild. The boatman and Inire are connected by the Botanic Gardens. Rudesind 
and the boatman are connected by similar speech patterns and being widowers. 
  Fechin and the boatman (and Ouen's father) are always losing their 
material possessions. Fechin, the boatman and Inire all show an interest in 
pretty young girls. Fechin, Inire and Rudesind all resemble monkeys.

The pattern may not be overwhelming but I can't ignore that these four guys 
might be related.  Would all these connections appear accidentally in Gene 
Wolfe's work? If the relationship illuminates obscured portions of 
Severian's family tree, I really can't ignore it. Others, especially those 
not so interested in the family tree, probabaly can ignore it and that's 
okay. But to me, the family tree seems so important and I haven't seen any 
good, complete models for it.  Anyone familiar with a Severian family tree 
I'm not aware of?

I have my own model for most of Severian's full family tree (still a couple 
vague spots, I'm afraid), and I think it (along with Eschatology and 
Genesis) explains why the destruction of Urth and creation of Ushas was 
necessary.  I was considering submitting another essay to Ultan's Library on 
this, though my first test attempt at that was such a failure and wasted two 
months. But one way or another I'll get these ideas out eventually.

-bsharp

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