The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by Rudesind

Eugene Zaretskiy · 05 Jul 2010, 05:43 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: eugene.zar at gmail.com (Eugene Zaretskiy)
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 01:43:36 -0400
Subject: (urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by
	Rudesind
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On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 8:00 PM, Ryan Dunn <ryan at liftingfaces.com> wrote:
> The appearance of the Autarch at House Azure opens the gates to other unannounced, unnamed characters appearing. He did it with Hildegrin as well, and a handful of other characters. Why not Inire, perhaps the most talked about yet never seen character??
>
> You sort of proved my point for me.

I think you may have missed the point, actually. To believe Wolfe
places masks everywhere and to search every sentence for signs of
these masks is, I believe, a fundamental misunderstanding of why many
of Wolfe's characters wear masks. The Autarch appearing in the House
Azure before the reader knows its him is not done to make you feel
clever when you figure it out. It's done because that fact, when you
realize it, fundamentally changes your understanding of what it means
to rule to Commonwealth, what it means to be an Autarch, and changes
the purpose of Severian's trip there. If I'm being vague, it's because
that has been discussed on this list a number of times before in
clearer terms than I can provide. More importantly, the details are
beside the point.

The point, the one I believe you misinterpreted to believe it supports
your point, is that the Autarch's mask in this case serves a very
strong purpose that enriches the story. The suggestion that Inire is
Rudesind seems to be ignoring this. What value to the book is there if
Inire is indeed Rudesind? Saying that it proves Inire is guiding
Severian seems ridiculous to me (and perhaps only me) since Rudesind's
directions could have been obtained from anyone, and if Inire wanted
to guide Severian in meaningful ways, there were many other, better
opportunities to have done so. Why search for masks for the sake of
masks?

> Why go to the trouble of giving Rudesind monkey-like description? Why have Eata say Inire looks like a monkey? Why have a red, wizened monkey who could be a man were it not for the hand-feet watching over Severian from the jungle above? Why, why WHY?

For the same reason any writer has for using metaphors: they provide a
convenience when needing to describe someone. In this case, much is
accomplished by the use of the word "monkey" without having to assume
it's time to go on a meaningless mask-hunt. Personally, I think the
description of Inire as a monkey helps build the image the common folk
have of him: As being non-human.

> No? Not sure that is as speculative as it may seem.

Speculation is fine, but as you say: why? Why would Inire be Rudesind?

- EZ

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