Wolfe and Noah

Lane Haygood · 08 Jul 2008, 21:10 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: lhaygood at gmail.com (Lane Haygood)
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:10:28 -0500
Subject: (urth) Wolfe and Noah
In-Reply-To: <43960c850807081405m67c7c12ai3e050c272abe4eff at mail.gmail.com>
References: <43960c850807081405m67c7c12ai3e050c272abe4eff at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <9D8F7C05-995F-4257-8C84-9B8092366DEF at gmail.com>

Well, I suppose that God was not responsible for Sev and the New Sun,  
so God hasn't broken any of his promises directly (assuming, of  
course, you're not an occasionalist, but who is?).

Another way of looking at it is that Abaia, Erebus and Scylla might  
actually be disadvantaged by the more luminous sun. They might be able  
to inhabit only colder worlds, or the increase in radiation might  
destroy them.  After all, the books are peppered with references to  
the "New Sun" being able to defeat Erebus and Abaia, and Sev himself  
has argued (with Jonas) that humans could not defeat creatures so  
great as Abaia.  Perhaps this usage of "New Sun" refers to the actual  
new star and not to Sev.

Lane

On Jul 8, 2008, at 4:05 PM, Russell Wodell wrote:

> May I ask a simple? possibly very naive ? question about the climax  
> of "The Urth of the New Sun"?
>
> If I understand correctly, the New Sun melts Urth's encroaching  
> glaciation, flooding at least Nessus and part of the Commonwealth,  
> if not most of the planet, washing away Urth and creating Ushas.
>
> I have always assumed this was a strategic victory for Abaia and his  
> attendant undines, whose underwater domain is thus greatly enlarged,  
> and a defeat for Erebus (who as I recall lived under one of Urth's  
> poles, and presumably wanted an ice age). It is of course difficult  
> to assign motives to off-stage monsters, but wasn't it for just this  
> reason that the undine saves Severian from drowning as an  
> apprentice? That it gives Urth over to Abaia and his minions, plus  
> those like Baldanders who seek immortality through extended youth,  
> which means unlimited physical growth, which necessitates living in  
> the oceans (though we are also told they can swim among the stars).
>
> Now Wolfe is anything but a simplistic Catholic -- indeed, I have  
> the impression, through hints in his interviews, that some of his  
> philosophical ideas might seem heretical. But isn't it basic  
> Christian doctrine, Catholic or Protestant alike, that God promised  
> Noah He would never again destroy humanity through a great flood,  
> and set the rainbow in this heavens as a pledge of this promise?
>
> Try as I may, I can't see how Sev and his fellow survivors from the  
> House Absolute could possibly be identified with Noah and his family.
>
>
> -- 
> Russell Wodell
>
> "Quanti canicula ille in fenestra"
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