What's So Great About Ushas?

David Duffy · 21 Jul 2008, 23:03 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: David.Duffy at qimr.edu.au (David Duffy)
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:03:29 +1000 (EST)
Subject: (urth) What's So Great About Ushas?
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-W8527F3771964BFF743AC0D78A0 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-W8527F3771964BFF743AC0D78A0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0807220847450.7001 at orpheus.qimr.edu.au>

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008, b sharp wrote:

>
> Aside from the recent snippiness I think this thread had been interesting and
> productive. A lot of ideas have come out I never would have predicted when
> I started it last month.  I give credit to John Watkins; I haven't heard his approach
> before; sorry I impugned his motives.
>
> It makes sense that some secular humanists might find BotNS a (did Dave Tallman
> call it a..) cosmic horror story where evil triumphs in the end.
>
> Still I'm not ready concede this as a horror story. Other Wolfe stories have left me with a
> feeling of horror and dread but not this one.  Have I been fooled by The Great Deceiver
> into a toleration of genocide?
>

I haven't read it, but isn't this the thesis of _Attending Dedalus_?

If you look at _Pirate Freedom_ and _Cerberus_ and perhaps _Peace_, Wolfe 
does write quite extended horror stories, and the former two seem to 
imply that kind of bootstrapping via technology is a bad thing.

But Wolfe has explicitly said, and shown esp in UotNS, that Severian is an 
imitatio christi, so he is "good" in as far as he can be. Using Tolkien's 
terminology, Wolfe has a subcreation that isn't the best of possible 
worlds, like ours is ;).  That is, the Hierogrammates and their actions 
are the best that can possibly be in this iteration, and so
Severian should fall in with their plans.

David Duffy.

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