Gnosticism in BotNS

Son of Witz · 08 Apr 2009, 18:40 · from 2009-April.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:40:48 +0000
Subject: (urth) Gnosticism in BotNS
Message-ID: <W158121153117301239216048@webmail8>


>
>This is classic gnostic imagery. Since gnosticism posits a false local 
>Creator and a true universal Creator, Vodalus seems to align himself 
>with true knowledge. However. his knowledge is probably to be regarded 
>as false, if not Satanic, even though the true god is more like the 
>hidden one than like the light-of-day one. We could probably usefully 
>compare the libertines' anticipation of sexual experience through the 
>alzabo with Severian's mastery of self through the alzabo. Severian 
>supplants and supercedes both autarchs by conciliating between their 
>desires for Man.
>
>Remember the inscription in the mausoleum: Look, and See. God must be 
>sought, not received. The Conciliator also is associated with gnostic 
>imagery (the Black Sun). Silk, in promoting the Outsider, plays a 
>similar role. So Wolfe basically uses gnostic imagery, I think, to 
>create a tension between failed approaches to the Increate that is 
>resolved by the "proper" approach. Something like that.



This is the main thing I get out of the Gnostic theology I've looked into. It strikes me that people critiquing it as mere "duality" is a bit off base. I think, at a really simple level, it's saying "Align yourself to the true God, and not this False Creator and his limited creation."  Which definitely jibes with the way Wolfe uses this imagery.  Of course, The Long Sun is a perfect metaphor of this idea.  A false God and his little dominion.

~witz

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