Grand Unified Theory

Lee Berman · 27 Aug 2010, 21:15 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:15:07 -0400
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
Message-ID: <SNT123-W25585E906DB1A5E4B81B6CF860 at phx.gbl>

>Dan'l D-Oakes: Again, the question is whether they are in obedience to God (or to the
>representatives of God they are given -- viz. Gabriel's comment) ornot. We have no real 
>way of knowing, that I can see, whether Inire and the Cumaean are or not. Certainly, 
>though, they do not seem to demand worship, which would be a point in their favor.

Perhaps this is the intended point..that Wolfe is not sure how to judge Zeus and Apollo
and Osiris and Vishnu etc. within a Christian framework. Perhaps the Whorl was a way to 
better explore this issue. What is the relationship between the (false) gods Pas and Scylla
and Tartaros, etc. and The Outsider? The falsies serve their purpose, as all God's creations 
do, but are we right or wrong to worship such gods when we are not given Christian 
alternatives? Are they, as Dan'l implies, better than nothing?

Nonetheless, I think both do have followers. Explicitly we are told they have witches and 
soldiers and spies following them. And I think they play a much greater role in the Commonwealth
than just that. Contrast them with Hierodules who take pains to not directly interfere with
humanity.

>David Stockhoff- We know that what his narrators do not tell us is important, but we should 
>recall that what they tell us is more important. I wonder if this can help us figure out what 
>to do with Inire. Yes, he is a gap, a void, a vacuum, a cipher, and therefore a mystery. But is 
>he a very important one? Surely Wolfe would have told us a little more if he was.

Inire as not-very-important. Hmm, interesting to contemplate. A minority view I think even among
the most skeptical..perhaps I'll counter with: 

>"Now we must go," Ossipago told Baldanders, and he handed him the Claw. "Think well on all the 
>things we have not told you, and remember what you have not been shown."

When it comes to Father Inire and The Cumaean it seems to be a very important point that they are 
the oldest beings in Commonwealth. They don't (openly) appear in UotNS (except for a goodbye hug
from Inire before Severian's trip). So it might seem they don't exist at Apu Punchau's time nor
during Typhon's rule nor Valeria's reign (and certainly not in Ushas).

Perhaps it is too speculative but I take their great age within a narrow timeframe to consider them
(especially Inire) as the architects of the Commonwealth. Thus, we get a view of their greater 
activities simply by observing the shape and functioning of the Commonwealth itself.

In the Commonwealth I see a rigid social hierarchy with a lot of war and repression and torture and 
witchcraft, with a lot of defeatist philosophy on why it is the best possible society. One odd aspect
that always puzzled me was the mysterious hints at extreme beautification. The mystery is most 
explicitly exposed with Jolenta, of course but we have khaibits and Thecla's belladonna eyes and 
Merryn's parchment stretched facial skin and a few other things.

Recently reading a description of fallen angel Azazel, cognate to Prometheus, gave me a slight "aha" 
moment.

>Azazel is represented in the Book of Enoch as one of the leaders of the rebellious Watchers in the time 
>preceding the flood; he taught men the art of warfare, of making swords, knives, shields, and coats of 
>mail, and women the art of deception by ornamenting the body, dyeing the hair, and painting the face and 
>the eyebrows, and also revealed to the people the secrets of witchcraft and corrupted their manners, 
>leading them into wickedness and impurity; until at last he was, at the Lord's command, bound hand and 
>foot by the archangel Raphael and chained to the rough and jagged rocks of [Ha] Duduael (= Beth ?adudo), 
>where he is to abide in utter darkness until the great Day of Judgment. 
(Fenrir invoked also?)

>Most modern scholars, after having for some time endorsed the old view, have accepted the opinion 
>mysteriously hinted at by Ibn Ezra and expressly stated by Nachmanides to Lev. xvi. 8, that Azazel belongs 
>to the class of "se'irim," goat-like spirits, jinn haunting the desert, to which the Israelites were 
>accustomed to offering sacrifice
(perhaps Faunus-Inuus-Inire invoked here)

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