Thus Spoke Severian? (Nietzsche links)

Peter Stephenson · 03 Dec 1998, 16:35 · from urth-v0022.mbox · original

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From: Peter Stephenson <pws at ibmth.df.unipi.it>
Subject: Re: (urth) Thus Spoke Severian? (Nietzsche links)
Date: Thu, 03 Dec 1998 17:35:06 +0100
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Jon Camfield wrote:
> (Yah, I's been quiet.  I's been busy...)

It's been quiet, has it?  Oh, *I's* been quiet.  Dialect, don't you
know.  Good show.

> GriffJon at mail.utexas.edu   	| www.dla.utexas.edu/~plan2

All explained.  Tallyho.

> Also, in _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_, Zara announces the future of humanity =
as
> having two possible courses, one towards the Last Man (no lie!), of a
> future bright in technology and comfort, but immersed in decadence and
> eventual death, and that of the Superhuman/Overman, who is a dramatic
> change from current man, an evolution from him, but more a revolution in
> (moral) thought-- Ash, master of the Last House vs. the Green Man?

Sounds like parallel evolution.  Lots of mystical views of the future
probably have this forking paths theme.

On the other hand, it's certainly interesting how many parallels you
can find when you pick writers with that sort of out of the way
viewpoint.  Like the connections I brought up with Yeats some time
ago; I think the conclusion (parallel evolution) was the same there.
He's got gyres rather than forking paths though, i.e. both extremes
happen repeatedly.  (Did that sentence make sense?)

--=20
Peter Stephenson <pws at ibmth.df.unipi.it>       Tel: +39 050 844536
WWW:  http://www.ifh.de/~pws/
Dipartimento di Fisica, Via Buonarroti 2, 56127 Pisa, Italy

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