"Principlesofgovernaaance"Gene Wolfe's Politics

Jerry Friedman · 07 Apr 2009, 14:16 · from 2009-April.txt.gz

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From: jerry_friedman at yahoo.com (Jerry Friedman)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 07:16:59 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (urth) :   "Principlesofgovernaaance"Gene Wolfe's Politics
In-Reply-To: <754BF133-AC24-426A-803D-F9242812F46C at butcherbaker.org>
Message-ID: <581708.81403.qm at web50707.mail.re2.yahoo.com>


--- On Tue, 4/7/09, Son of Witz <sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org> wrote:
> On Apr 4, 2009, at 1:40 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> 
> > Though the idea of democracy must have survived
> > quite a long time, since the Commonwealth doesn't
> have
> > even nominally democratic institutions, and other than
> > the real Master M.'s lesson, there's no trace
> of democracy
> > in the past.
> 
> well, there is this detail at least:
> Shadow X The Last Year:
> """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> "Then that is enough for you. Look here," she
> held up the brown book. "Here it
> says, 'It was the thought of Thalelaeus the Great that
> the democracy'---that
> means the People---'desired to be ruled by some power
> superior to itself, and of
> Yrierix the Sage that the commonality would never permit
> one differing from
> themselves to hold high office. Notwithstanding this, each
> is called The Perfect
> Master.' "
> I did not see what she meant, and said nothing.
> """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Ah, good one.  So Severian is taught that something like
our democracy is the "highest" form of government, while
the word itself (or what Wolfe decided to translate that
way) is so rare that Thecla thinks she needs to explain
it.  At least to a boy below her class.


Jerry Friedman

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