Inire and House Absolute

Dave Tallman · 08 Jul 2008, 05:31 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: davetallman at msn.com (Dave Tallman)
Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:31:50 -0600
Subject: (urth) Inire and House Absolute
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-W3696D4CBB5CB657B6B9705D7970 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-W3696D4CBB5CB657B6B9705D7970 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4872FBC6.1040306 at gmail.com>

b sharp wrote:
> >/I know of nothing in the Urth Cycle to suggest that Inire was involved with
> />/Typhon, and the above quote suggests that Inire was summoned to Urth. How
> />/was Inire "called by" Ymar? Called from where? How would Ymar even know of
> />/him?
> /
> I've wondered the same things and one answer is that there is no answer. That
> Wolfe didn't develop that part of the story enough in his own mind for there to be
> a reasonable answer.
>
> But if there is an answer, perhaps Borski was on the right track. He thinks Ceryx
> was Father Inire in disguise and Madame Prefect Prisca was The Cumaean. They 
> were born in the future, did all their work moving backward in time and then they 
> both die more or less at the hand of Severian in the past.  The arguments for Prisca
> being The Cumaean are weaker, I think, relying on the Latin origin of her name, 
> paralleling "Cumaean", "Camoena" and "Inire".
>   
Here's another possibility: the word "called" might connect with 
"caller" (as Hethor is designated by Father Inire in his letter). Hethor 
used mirrors to bring alien creatures to Urth. But who in Ymar's time 
might have access to Ship mirrors? I suggest Burgundofara, who was 
briefly a sailor on the Ship and would be again as Gunnie. In fact, 
Gunnie might have slipped her younger self the mirrors before she left.

By the way, here's a Roman god reference for Father Inire's name that I 
have never seen on this board, on 
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/dailygod/blg05013.htm

"Inuus was a a Roman fertility god whose name may be connected with a 
Latin word for copulation (/inire/). Livy said he was the god originally 
worshipped at the Lupercalia. Inuus is sometimes identified with Faunus."
This seems a much better match than Abraxus (but maybe they are the same).

I think it's more likely that Father Inire's lifespan was artificially 
extended for his mission than that he used time travel to "skip over the 
boring parts" as Jeff Wilson suggested.

I also think the original of the House Absolute was a camouflaged 
bunker/palace built by Typhon, which would be a nice hideout in case of 
attacks from space. It was enhanced by Father Inire. There are certainly 
space-warping tunnels to Nessus, since Rudesind expected to be able to 
walk to paintings he described while in Nessus when he was in the House 
Absolute.

Camoena is the Roman goddess of singing. I don't believe the word is 
ever used in the books, but it sounds like the pattern that Hierodules 
are named for Roman gods or goddesses. I think the identification of the 
cruel Prisca with the Cumaean is absurd, and I have doubts about the 
Ceryx connection, too.

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