Severian the Alzabo?

dcooperv · 16 May 2008, 05:21 · from 2008-May.txt.gz

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From: dcooperv at mail.rochester.edu (dcooperv)
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 01:21:58 -0400
Subject: (urth) Severian the Alzabo?
Message-ID: <482d19f6.ab.11c4.24171 at mail.rochester.edu>

Howdy, I'm a fairly new subscriber, though I've read a bit of the archives.
Anyway, I don't have any deep insights to share, but here's an interesting bit I
found.
In his interview with Larry McCaffery
(http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/interviews/wolfe46interview.htm), Wolfe says:
"The Alzabo is a monster, sure; but it's something many people fear a great deal
when they work for a major corporation: we fear we'll be swallowed by Procter
and Gamble, become just a cog in its innards or so much a company man that we'll
be just a voice coming out of its mouth." 
This I think sums up the psychological appeal (for lack of a better term) of the
Alzabo and similar monsters (body-snatchers, Star Trek's Borg, et cetera).
Compare this with the idea in Helioscope (IIRC), that the fear engendered by the
figure of the torturer isn't just the fear of being tortured, but also "the fear
of being made to be a torturer."
Likewise, we have Dorcas's warning in Claw (don't have my copy at hand, but it's
while they're camped out at the House Absolute), "People don't want to let other
people be people," or words to that effect.
This was just a neat little motif I found running through the work. Can any of
you add to this? Hopefully I can spark some discussion.

All the best,
Dan Vince

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