Boatman as Inire

Ryan Dunn · 06 Aug 2010, 19:33 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: ryan at liftingfaces.com (Ryan Dunn)
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 15:33:24 -0400
Subject: (urth) Boatman as Inire
In-Reply-To: <007f01cb359d$d11d7f60$49d34a0c@rclackey>
References: <SNT123-W17B2D60FBAB9A2AE81714DCF910 at phx.gbl>
	<007f01cb359d$d11d7f60$49d34a0c@rclackey>
Message-ID: <CE597321-6F93-4551-9C85-91434E66FC7F at liftingfaces.com>

It is Lupine Gospel, however, that Dorcas and the boatman are Severian's paternal grandparents, yes?

...ryan

On Aug 6, 2010, at 3:30 PM, "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:

> Lee Berman wrote:
>> Jeff Wilson's comment about Dorcas and the boatman brought this topic to
>> mind. Rudesind as Inire has been discussed lately, but not the boatman I
> think.
>> It is recognized that a weakness in such a scenario involves the boatman
> not really
>> being dead or that there are multiple versions of Inire which have varying
> lifespans.
> 
> Yeah, those were among my objections years ago when you first brought this
> up, and they still obtain.
> 
> [snip]
>> I think Severian's descriptions of Father Inire as always off stage, and
> if on stage, in
>> disguise, never revealed is, in some way, a sign of respect for the deep
> instinct of the
>> shape-changing sort of being that Father Inire is (respect also for being
> his vizier and
>> grandfather).
> 
> You keep throwing out statements like that as if they were accepted Lupine
> gospel: they are not. There is no textual evidence that Inire is either a
> shape-changer or Sev's grandfather. You pile speculation upon speculation in
> furtherance of one or another of your theories and/or some Grand Unified
> Theory, no matter the cost to logic or the text. For example, you have
> proposed that at least three male characters in the Urth Cycle (the old man
> at Casdoe's cabin, the old leech and, IIRC, Ceryx) are really females,
> despite there not being a shred of textual evidence to support the notion.
> Will that be enough to make the text fit the theory?
> 
> -Roy
> 
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