Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod

David Stockhoff · 12 Aug 2010, 12:33 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:33:32 -0400
Subject: (urth) Hierogrammates, Briah and Yesod
In-Reply-To: <4C63E2A8.9030801 at gmail.com>
References: <SNT123-W57B05DF133DC82E315801CF970 at phx.gbl>
	<4C63E2A8.9030801 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4C63EA1C.4050706 at verizon.net>

On the use of the word "cognates":

I think this is a standard low-grade Wolfean riddle. If a Wolfe 
character says to a narrator, "I once met a man very like you, who had 
the same look and carried himself the same way, and held his cigarette 
just like that, but he called himself by a different name then," how 
would you interpret that?

"Once upon a time, there was a race of beings with two arms and two legs 
who called themselves Men. They were very like you, with the same hopes 
and dreams, but they lived far away from here, both in space and in 
time." How would you interpret that?

I read both as strong hints of the obvious, with a dash of doubt.

Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:
> Lee Berman wrote (12-08-2010 12:52):
>> After Tzadkiel tells Severian specifically that his race (not a cognate
>> race) created Hierogrammates (...)
>
> He says 'your own', then he says 'they'. To me that easily reads as 'your
> cognates'. If it were really 'you, not your cognates', I'd expect him 
> to say
> 'you' all along. But again I'm no anglo :)
>
> It would be weird to say 'your cognate' where he says 'your own', even 
> if he
> meant 'your cognate'.
>
> After all, it *is* explicitly said that there was a race cognate to
> Severian's. Where does it enter the picture, if not by creating the
> hierogrammates?
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