An Old mystery ...

Son of Witz · 05 Dec 2008, 19:50 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:50:58 +0000
Subject: (urth) An Old mystery ...
Message-ID: <W62855893194171228506658@webmail7>


>First off, I am not a Christian and have no interest in guarding the
>sanctity of Christian tradition, if that is what you have assumed.

>Sure, there are parallels between Severian and Jesus. My point was that, in
>the end, I don't think they compare very well, for reasons already given.
>Let me put it another way: After Jesus did what he did on/for Earth, he
>climbed back on the Heavenly Throne. After Severian did what he did to/for
>Urth, he stuck around on Ushas and got the bejesus kicked out of his
>god-like powers.
>
>
>I don't pretend to have all the answers, much less The Answer. But I have
>learned not to try to impose meaning on Wolfe's work by trying to use an
>external template to extrapolate from in order to fill in narrative gaps. No
>matter what sources Wolfe may incorporate into his stories--the Bible,
>literature, mythology, folklore, whatever--he *never* recasts that source
>material quite the way he found it. He adds things, subtracts things, mixes
>things up. "The Tale of the Student and His Son" (CLAW, XVII) is a NS
>example that contains elements from several recognizable sources, but the
>whole is very different from its parts and is not defined by them. The
>Cinderella bit in PEACE is all screwed up. The Arthurian material in
>CASTLEVIEW is mixed up and mingled with unrelated material, etc.
>
>In the Christian tradition, what Christ did on Earth was for the benefit of
>all mankind. What the Conciliator did to Urth to bring about the New
>Beginning of Ushas (something God in the O.T. tried with less than
>satisfactory results) affected Urth-Ushas only. Mankind was on other planets
>spread all over the galaxy. In the Urth Cycle, the Hierogrammates are
>Severian's puppet masters and they are screwing around with the whole damn
>universe, with or without the Increate's blessing.

Hi Roy,
Thanks for engaging the question.
I find your insight to these works very sharp, and appreciate reading them.
What you say about not applying a template to Wolfe is valuable.  For my own purposes, I've imagined warped reflections, not a template.

I do have to take exception with this:
"What the Conciliator did to Urth to bring about the New
>Beginning of Ushas affected Urth-Ushas only. Mankind was on other planets
>spread all over the galaxy."

The cyclical relationship of the Yesod / Briah, Hiero / Human is key here. Again, the Amphisbaena.  The Heiros are looking out for themselves, but if they succeed, they will ultimately bring about the next creation of humanity.
so, its a mutual benefit that ultimately affects a universal level which includes all the other worlds of humans and post humans.  



>What that adds up to on the symbolic level is debatable, and it has been
>much debated here for a long time. Are the Hierogrammates good guys?
>Personally, I'm generally inclined to think so, but it depends on which side
>of the bed I get up on.
>
>-Roy

ha, I feel you.

~witz

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