Hut in the Jungle

Son of Witz · 18 Mar 2009, 23:33 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:33:48 +0000
Subject: (urth) Hut in the Jungle
Message-ID: <W190441489326271237419228@webmail11>


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jerry Friedman [mailto:jerry_friedman at yahoo.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 04:23 PM
>To: 'The Urth Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: (urth) Hut in the Jungle
>
>
>--- On Wed, 3/18/09, Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org> wrote:
>> >>> I understand that it serves to show us that
>> one can time travel,
>> >>>without knowing it, by merely walking through
>> certain spaces that
>> >>> are somehow set up for this. This makes that
>> very clear. Robert
>> >>> mentions Paris, and we see a propeller plane,
>> it's a window into
>> >>> Urth's past as Earth.
>> >
>> >>Are we sure it's the past?
>> 
>> 
>> I am.
>> it seems abundantly clear, and even GW's translator
>> note says as much.
>> I dismiss outright the suggestion that GW may not = Gene
>> Wolfe.
>
>I should remind you of this quotation from James Jordan's
>interview with that same person, whoever he is (or maybe I
>shouldn't, because I'd like to forget it):
>
>"JJ: This universe that you set in Briah, or part of it--is that our universe? Or is that a universe that resurrected saints have set up in the world to come as part of the cities that they made?
>
>"GW: No. I thought of it as a long past universe. Something that we are repeating rather than something that we are."
>
>http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2tmhh/wolfejbj.html
>
>How "the era's few extant buildings" fits into that I can't
>imagine.  But if Severian's universe is like ours with small
>differences, it would explain the odd dislocations--"Isangoma"
>and "tokoloshe" from South Africa but "uakari" and "margay"
>from South America and "hesperorn" (Cretaceous) and
>"oreodont" (Oligocene and Miocene) from North America, and the
>slightly off translation from the Bible.  On the other hand,
>Agia's claim that the people in the hut are enchanted people
>of her time would also explain it if the enchantment didn't
>create a perfect imitation.
>
>Jerry Friedman


That's interesting.
the enchantment idea actually works pretty well, though it can't account for the plan.
and Long Past works pretty much just as well for me.  

I think part of the point is what Gwern said in the next post:
"The spirits of the future trouble the dreams of the present, and the
present make the results that lie in the future. Which was the
original? Neither, perhaps.

-- 
gwern"

I'm down with Neither, as it resonates with the Amphisbaena symbol and general time loop intractability.

~witz

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