mystery of the guild

David Stockhoff · 11 Feb 2009, 16:18 · from 2009-February.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:18:13 -0500
Subject: (urth)  mystery of the guild
In-Reply-To: <mailman.12096.1234361443.6116.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.12096.1234361443.6116.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
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I am skeptical that something as vast as the RCC could ever "become" something as tiny and obscure as the Guild, but there are certainly correspondences and connections. The Guild could be a fragment of the Church, perhaps descended from some actual monastic order. But which one? They all seem pretty benevolent to me.

One correspondence is that the Keep, as I imagine it, resembles both a Gothic cathedral and a 1950's pulp-fiction finned rocket ship. Both aspire and thrust up to the heavens. Both are nostalgic and hopeful at the same time.

If Wolfe does think of Christ as an applier of pain, then the irony of Severian's connection may not be as central as I thought.

I wonder if any Catholic writer might be prone to speculation on what it might be like if Christ and Pope were the same person, holding spiritual and temporal authority. That is, if the Autarch parallels the Pope, then ... you see where I'm going here.

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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:53:05 -0000
From: "O'Donnell, Tim (BOSI)" <Tim.O'Donnell at bankofscotland.ie>
Subject: c
To: <urth at urth.net>
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	<63FB9AC7E0AEC7459DBCC99DC44247CA01F6B77C at BOSIDEXDB.Bankofscotland.ie>
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A couple of theories on the mystery of the guild from the archives:

1)  That it has to do with Auturchs and the rearing of them
http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0304/3112.txt.shtml

2) That the guild = Roman Catholic Church (I know Silk was described by Wolfe in interview as being in the broadest possible sense a member of the seekers after truth - and he is a priest)
http://www.urth.net/urth/archives/v0015/0073.shtml

I am inclined to believe the first one, that Ymar left the guild know that they would be very important at some point in the future.

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