The argument for Intractability

Jeff Wilson · 24 Dec 2008, 17:55 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:55:03 -0600
Subject: (urth) The argument for Intractability
In-Reply-To: <W3869416185313721230139280@webmail17>
References: <W3869416185313721230139280@webmail17>
Message-ID: <49527777.5030309 at io.com>

Son of Witz wrote:
> flooding of Urth, he realizes that his consciousness is in the star, and
> his body is a puppet. But what kind of stars have consciousness? That's
> not a question that science can answer. I can think of one way that
> resolves it while being true to the plot and to the symbology. His
> Consciousness is wearing a star like it wears a fleshy body. We're then
> left with his spirit/consciousness, which gets back to the sort of idea
> I've been saying all along, that he is a Deity that incarnates in
> various times as a Sun God.

There's a problem in that deities by definition transcend the physical 
world, but Sev's first-person narrative remains largely linear and 
divided from that of "other Severians" from which he is separated in 
space and time, both Urthly and Yesodi time. A certain amount of this 
separation has to be in order for his mortal incarnations to be valid, 
but there's no enduring union of mortal and divine identities, just a 
few short flashes of insight of the former into the nature of the 
latter.  This doesn't make Severian a deity any more than a really good 
reception at Karaoke makes me Elvis, just someone who for a moment can 
experience a tiny piece of Elvishood.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >

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