The argument for Intractability

David Stockhoff · 23 Dec 2008, 23:27 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:27:33 -0500
Subject: (urth) The argument for Intractability
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1230070188.9055.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.1.1230070188.9055.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <495173E5.4000003 at verizon.net>

Thematically, each is meaningless without the other. 

Yes, there's a lot of material to mine there. You could illustrate these three series for the rest of your life---make a career of it, as people have done with Tolkien!

Incidentally, I was reading the messages about AEG and realized that Lancelot is the Arthurian hero Severian reminds me of. He has dealing with water spirits, he is a toy of otherworldly and higher powers, and he returns after a long absence with the faerie folk. Time with the fairies often runs funny. And Lancelot heals.

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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:39:51 +0000
From: "Son of Witz" <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org>
Subject: Re: (urth) The argument for Intractability
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <W534055671251741230053991 at webmail20>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

yeah, I really don't think it's an either-or situation regarding Free Will and Intervention.  I have a hard time putting it into words, but it doesn't cause any schism for me.  It is hard to comprehend time from an "It's all happened already" perspective without feeling like we're just going through some motions.  I liken it to a book. it's already finished, yet we have to read our way through it.

That being said, I'm not trying to make an ironclad argument that it "MUST" be intractable, just that, from what's given in the text, I can't imagine it any other way, and it does seem to work well metaphorically.

I just realized, given the scene in Urth with the Chilliarch and the Smilodon, and Severian's mercy to the Chilliarch and friendliness with the Smilodon would SURELY have ended up in the Conciliator myth.  As Christ is sometimes represented as a lion, or as various sun gods are posed with a Lion, the Conciliator would probably be sometimes pictured with the smilodon.
too cool.  

~witz

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