Monkey business

Lee Berman · 09 Jul 2010, 15:55 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 11:55:36 -0400
Subject: (urth) Monkey business
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1577B77D5F704FE215BA4BCFB50 at phx.gbl>

Roy I appreciate your efforts to ground all discussion in direct
references from the text. I certainly welcome the generation of
a theory which explains all these monkey references better than 
mine, which struggles and strains to hold together.

I must add that it isn't only the monkey aspect that I see as 
marking the appearances of Father Inire, it is a constellation
of traits. The best illustration of that is the old boatman. It is
from him that we hear the confirming description that Inire is small
and bent. But we are told, without acknowledgement by Severian, that
the boatman himself fits that very description. If we are looking for 
a mysterious Inire and we find a guy who looks like him and spends 
large amounts of time in a place built by Inire and frequented by 
Inire and his brethren, a red flag goes up for me. Severian is 
always comparing things to other things and people to other people
so I am suspicious when he doesn't make an obvious comparison like this.

Another suspicious scene occurs in regard to the old person in 
Casdoe's house. The red flag goes up for me because, over a long sequence 
of events,  nobody (except Severian's narration) acknowledges this person.
Nobody says, "hey Little Severian, tell grandpa its time to eat" or "hey,
grandpa, a monster just ate two of our family, we have to leave". Only 
Severian interacts with that old person.

My guess is that was done to avoid the use of any revealing pronouns. 
My guess is that Severian has misjudged the gender of this person. I 
think this person's description of Fechin is so adoring and admiring
that it must come from a woman, not a man. And thus perhaps we have
two unreliable narrators. I suspect Fechin is not really tall nor 
handsome but just perceived that way through loving eyes. I detect some
jealousy as the old person discusses how she(?) has to wait for Fechin
while he has his liaison with a beautiful girl (Dorcas?). 
Wait for her turn, I think.

All this is the sort of speculation piled upon speculation that Roy hopes
to avoid. And I apologize. The only reason I indulge in it is because it
provides (for me) answers to one of the deepest mysteries of the story
Who are Severian's family members?

If I am right about the boatman, then Inire is Severian's grandfather. If
I am right about the old person in Casdoe's house then Little Severian is
Severian's cousin. If I am right about Rudesind, his dead wife and
two daughters, then Dorcas is his grandmother, Catherine is his mother and
Cyriaca (who has a suspiciously knowledgeable "uncle") is his aunt. I see 
other clues which suggest Agia and Agilus are cousins and Jolenta is his 
sister. The source of all the incestuous desires in the family is from the
patriarch, Father Inire, a benign but corrupting alien influence on humanity
(and Severian's cursed family) which must be cleansed.

Naturally there are text citations I can make to support each of the 
possibilities I suggest above.  If somebody wants to hear them that's
fine. Finding mistakes and inconsistencies is also welcome.  Otherwise
that's my nutshell theory on Father Inire which, for the most part, works
for me.

(I'll remention that I think the positive model for this ubiquitous, chimeric
being is the non-fallen Tzadkiel, who can simultaneously be as big as an
island, small as tinkerbell, exist as a hairy blob, a caveman, an adonis and a
female. How all this relates to Severian's mating with Apheta is an interesting 
question)

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