Urth Net
fully divine and fully human
Son of Witz · 26 Nov 2008, 07:03
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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz) Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:03:44 -0800 Subject: (urth) fully divine and fully human In-Reply-To: <452379.64105.qm at web58208.mail.re3.yahoo.com> References: <452379.64105.qm at web58208.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <FDAC2013-31DA-4150-A9DB-CD7F6E6334E4 at butcherbaker.org> On Nov 25, 2008, at 5:03 PM, Marc Aramini wrote: > The complexity of Wolfe's symbols are beyond simple > categorization. The claw is both a divine relic and an ordinary > thorn. Severian is both the conciliator and a dupe of aliens. Time > turns our lies into truths. > > The church has similar mysteries - three in one, the substance of > christ being fully divine and fully mortal, and other paradoxes that > can't be explained but can explain other things. > > The most basic perusal of the text assures us that terms for God are > translated as New Sun - the sun dial for example. The conflation of > new son and new sun, as well as the symmetry of all the titles leads > us to the obvious conclusion that the narrator is torturer, > conciliator, lictor, autarch, and new sun. > > This was obvious to me in the seventh grade when I read this as a > tale of the parousia, but Severian is more than a revelatory Christ > - the text tries very hard to establish credence as divine by the > use of saints names, the miracles, contiguous use of water and > healing, the triumph over death - but there are diabolical forces at > work that mimic the divine. The coin of vodalus is a symbol of the > sun, but it is false. Severian is both a fraud and a conciliator, > and this is something that I can find only in Wolfe. A false Christ > can still get the job done by pretending to be what he wants the > people to believe he is. you're surely right. the diabolical forces that mimic the divine part is especially apt. and I suppose surely one could argue that the cosmology is bogus and he is 'just' a dupe. I like the ambiguity. this is the sense I meant with the satanic catholic church comment. I'd say the same about many yogis and such as well. I also found the false coin very profound. I took it somehow as about the false oaths, oath breaking, and , how would you put it, improper allegiance. having just read it my second time, I suppose I'm just geeked on all this and surprised how thorough and consistent it seems to be within the seemingly convoluted structure. I didn't get it at all the first time. Early in Urth, I sort of got it, but I agree with Jordon that it is sort of a spoiler to the puzzle. The first read through was a serious WTF?!?!? for me. the second was more exciting than any fiction I've read. Upon rereading, I was determined to pay close attention to the clues, figuring that the 4 books should have a tight symbology if it was really suggesting all that Urth was giving away. I was not imposing this Christological viewpoint. this stuff all just started springing out at me. surely somewhere in me my inner cathaholic was suggesting it all. really great to hash this stuff out with you all. thanks. ~SonOfWitz who is really just Mike, but I hate having my name all over the internet. sometimes the pseudonym seems obnoxious though.
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