Severian as a student

Roy C. Lackey · 05 Jun 2008, 20:59 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 15:59:53 -0500
Subject: (urth) Severian as a student
Message-ID: <003701c8c74f$1d503a40$c3d04a0c at rclackey.stic.net>

Jeff Wilson quoted and wrote:
>> The doeskin/manskin pouch thing is not as easily dismissed as most of the
>> other mistakes. Doeskin and manskin have very different connotations. It
is
>> almost impossible for me to believe that Wolfe made that mistake. It is
>> almost equally difficult for me to believe that dear Dorcas would sew a
>> pouch made from human skin to house the most celebrated religious icon on
>> the planet.
>
>Why not? The greatest sacrifice to honor the greatest sacrifice.

There are two basic types of sacrifice -- those made voluntarily and those
in which the subject of the sacrifice is a reluctant participant. The
overwhelming majority of sacrifices involving human skin are of the second
kind.

Theories that equate the Conciliator in any meaningful way with Christianity
are fundamentally flawed. The latter is about the sacrifice of a god for
the world and the people in it. Severian the Conciliator sacrificed the
world and the people in it, while he got to survive, sitting on the beach in
Ushas, writing his second memoir while watching the girls go by and
otherwise enjoying the pampered pastimes of a petty god.

-Roy

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