Typee, incidentally

Son of Witz · 12 Nov 2010, 18:48 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:48:32 -0800
Subject: (urth) Typee, incidentally
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W37A3B7FA98DDFED7E6F00FCF330 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W37A3B7FA98DDFED7E6F00FCF330 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <40AAB05F-ACD8-4C7B-AC96-02198ECF544E at butcherbaker.org>

On Nov 12, 2010, at 10:38 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 
> 
>> David Stockhoff: This solution, that missionary work is "just and holy" but missionaries 
>> are "earthly" and "productive of evil," is so reminiscent of one "solution" to the puzzle 
>> presented by the Hierodules, Vodalus, and the actions of the undines toward Severian---that 
>> even evil forces do the work of the Increate---that I think they must be related. In fact, the 
>> Heirodules on Urth from the perspective of a citizen of the Commonwealth must resemble an 
>> islander's view of missionaries, given the same level of knowledge and grasp of history.
> 
> At the end of CotA there is an elaborate blacksmith analogy made to describe the Hierogrammates' 
> shaping of humanity (below). I think it may be apt in describing how Wolfe's view of good and 
> evil doesn't follow the traditional Christian definitions. Humanity, as the hot piece of metal 
> being pounded, might define the solid, cool foundation of the anvil as being "good" and the 
> crushing, painful blows of the hammer to be "evil". But the blacksmith would not and could not 
> view the process this way. How could He accomplish His shaping by seeking always to elevate the 
> anvil and eliminate the hammer? 
> 
> Brings to mind the questions of why God created Lucifer et al. to fall and created Adam and Eve 
> to fail. Also that recently found Lost Gospel of Judas, which suggests Jesus and Judas secretly 
> planned the Judas betrayal all along to accomplish their spiritual goals.



Here lies one of the reasons why I'm always confused when people see Severian's ultimate act as a negative or satanic act.  Did they miss the point entirely?



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