godling's claw (was: Re: god(s) and gods)

Jane Delawney · 01 Dec 2010, 01:08 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: jane_delawney at sky.com (Jane Delawney)
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:08:33 +0000
Subject: (urth) godling's claw (was: Re:  god(s) and gods)
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W24B2E159C1B1DF1B0D44D4CF250 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W24B2E159C1B1DF1B0D44D4CF250 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4CF5A011.4090705 at sky.com>

On 30/11/10 03:32, Lee Berman wrote:
>
> James your Quezal article is chock-full of interesting associations. For some reason, in the
> description of the inhuma bird and its horn-like head crest I was reminded of the godling who
> wears "a peaked hat that was in fact a claw". Well, maybe a connection. If not, I suppose we
> must at least think of Severian a little.
>    
I think the claw is actually on the godling's thumb? Silk/Horn sees the 
aforementioned appendage whilst the godling is cradling him upon his/its 
hand and it's pretty clear from the description (with a caveat or two, 
see below) that this claw is part of the hand not on the creature's head.

Hilariously (IMO) the front cover of the British paperback edition of 
RTTW depicts Silk/Horn cradled upon an oversized but very human hand 
(ie. with fingernails rather than claws) which belongs to a giant 
humanoid ... with a very big claw attached to the top of his head!

OK I can kind of understand how the illustrator got this so wrong - I 
had to read the passage twice to reassure myself that actually, the 
godling's claw is a thumbnail-analogue, not some daft looking turban 
substitute.

Not sure whether any Severian reference is intended (though I suppose a 
godling with claws - whether on hands or anywhere else - is somewhat 
suggestive) - in BoTNS the only guys we see with *actual* claws, flagged 
up at the time as parodies of *the* Claw, are the jungle sorcerers.

jd

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