The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned byRudesind

brunians at brunians.org · 08 Jul 2010, 14:44 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: brunians at brunians.org (brunians at brunians.org)
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:44:09 -0400
Subject: (urth) The mystery of the image of an
 astronaut	cleaned	byRudesind
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Message-ID: <996416be4941fae852a097de7e8c2098.squirrel at brunians.org>

Now I'm getting a little uncomfortable.

.

> I agree. Inire's actual role is murky, but it seems likely.
>
> Ryan Dunn wrote:
>> David,
>>
>> I want to add that my experience with BotNS is that the whole journey is
>> caught in a time loop of sorts. Not exactly, but what we are witnessing
>> is the journey of Severian, but it is not his first pass through this
>> journey. It is a refined pass, however, and the one that inevitably
>> leads him to success (to becoming the New Sun).
>>
>> Here are two passages which prove the loop, to me, and suggest that
>> Severian and Inire, cronies by the time of the manuscript's writing, are
>> walkers of the corridors of time, and shaping Severian's (the apprentice
>> and onward) journey from hilt to tip...
>>
>> . .
>>
>> "Rudesind, we already know the answers to the question you think we are
>> going to ask. We know your master is what the people call a cacogen, and
>> that for whatever reason, he is one of those few who have chosen to cast
>> their lots entirely with humanity, remaining on Urth as a human being.
>> The Cumaean is another such, though perhaps you did not know that. We
>> even know that your master was with us in the jungles of the north,
>> where he tried until it was too late to rescue my predecessor. We only
>> want to say that if a young man with an errand comes past again while
>> you are on your ladder, you are to send him to Master Ultan. That is our
>> order."
>>
>> . .
>>
>> "I am not the first Severian. Those who walk the corridors of Time saw
>> him gain the Phoenix Throne, and thus it was that the Autarch, having
>> been told of me, smiled in the House Azure, and the undine thrust me up
>> when it seemed I must drown. (Yet surely the first Severian did not;
>> something had already begun to reshape my life.)"
>>
>> . .
>>
>> [TWO PARTS]
>>
>> 1. "There is really no describing the sensation of being watched. I have
>> heard it called a prickling at the back of the neck, and even a
>> consciousness of eyes that seem to float in darkness, but it is neither
>> - at least, not for me. It is something akin to a sourceless
>> embarrassment, coupled with the feeling that I must not turn around,
>> because to turn will be to appear a fool, answering the promptings of
>> baseless intuition. Eventually, of course, one does. I turned with the
>> vague impression that someone had followed me through the hole at the
>> base of the dial."
>>
>> 2. "I crossed to the door and tapped on it. The timorous old woman who
>> had served us appeared, and I, stepping into that musty room in which I
>> had warmed myself before, told her to bring Valeria to me."
>>
>> . .
>>
>> Okay, so the final one seems to be the young Severian sensing Severian
>> the Lame entering that Atrium, right? And he is not the first Severian.
>> And he admits something had begun to reshape his life. And we now know
>> that Inire (Rudesind's master) was with Severian in the jungles, trying
>> to rescue Appian. And Severian gives an order to direct his younger
>> iteration to Ultan, though he doesn't say by which means.
>>
>> So... in as far as I can see. Any sightings of Inire along Severian's
>> journey are not mission critical. But they DO reenforce what is revealed
>> at the end. That Inire (and probably Severian shows up) are active
>> participants in the reshaping of the journey of "Severian Who Succeeds".
>>
>> Their entire mission is to get the damn sun back, and Severian turns
>> himself into a puppet with Inire's time traveling help. That, to me, is
>> the shell of the nut that we are trying to crack.
>>
>> Yay? Nay?
>>
>> ...ryan
>>
>> On Jul 7, 2010, at 11:24 PM, David Stockhoff wrote:
>>
>>
>>> There needs to be a principle of, I don't know, conservation of
>>> explanation or something. And we need to call each other on it.
>>>
>>> For example, if a mysterious figure gains powers (expert acting,
>>> sharpshooting, shapeshifting, timetripping) to explain specific textual
>>> features, that in other contexts begin to overlap and become redundant
>>> (i.e., a feature can be explained by any of these powers), then we have
>>> a condition of overexplanation. There are more explanations than there
>>> are problems and they contradict one another. Why would the burglar use
>>> his powers of disguise if he could simply go back in time to when the
>>> apartment was empty? And so on. Wolfe's characters often address this
>>> issue directly.
>>>
>>> Overexplanation is a violation of form. Sometimes the most mundane
>>> explanations are best, because they require the least effort and never
>>> lead to redundancy. One asks questions not to challenge but to test.
>>>
>>> I'm afraid I'm not expressing myself well, but does this make sense?
>>>
>>
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