Father Inire Theory cont.

Lee Berman · 10 Dec 2010, 19:23 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:23:03 -0500
Subject: (urth) Father Inire Theory cont.
Message-ID: <SNT123-W143AB88E53CC5AD4E321FBCF2F0 at phx.gbl>

>Antonio Pedro Marques- Gestaltver?nderung = shapeshifter. Incredibly great pun!

Perhaps I chose my young woman-old crone illusion better than I knew. She is a 
shapeshifter isn't she? In fact I think the illusion-based portion of the Inhumi disguise
works just like that! Our old crone makes her mouth look like a young woman's necklace.
Perhaps the inhumi hold their claws in just such a position around their wrist that they 
appear as bracelets or something. Krait always seems to be holding a pose in one position.
I can't remember about the other inhumi.

>But I keep waiting for you to develop your FI theory.

What else can I do but what I am doing? I alternate between discussing the big
picture and how the smaller elements combine to form it. But I can't assemble it
for anyone else but myself.

I'll try another shot at the (really) big picture. BotNS can be read at multiple levels.
They are simultaneous like the young woman/old crone.  The levels do not negate each other
but sometimes interact and support each other. Though unseen, Father Inire is a central 
character and can be interpreted at all the levels, like Severian. 

Autobiographical level- Severian's life parallels Gene Wolfe's, school, army, wife, etc. Gene 
Wolfe's father was a charismatic travelling salesman. Not always home but still with great 
impact on the family. I'll leave it at that.

SF level- Father Inire is an alien, surely an interstellar one.  The only interstellar ship we
see is Tzadkiel's. Inire must have served on it, but no longer. We see no direct connection between
Inire and the hierodules. It is unreliable Severian who says Inire labels himself a hierodule. 
The acknowledged hierodules B, F and O nod without explanation.

Tzadkiel's ship seems to be plagued by mutineers.  Hethor's babble suggests he was such a mutineer.
Father Inire, like Hethor, is good with mirrors and interested in ...poppets. I think there is more
to the story of Inire than either side wants to discuss.

Religious/mythological level- there has been a suggestion that Father Inire appears in the story in
various human and animal guises. This seems like a parallel to what Greek (and other pagan) gods were
always doing. There is evidence that Father Inire (in guises) has a pivotal place in Severian's family
tree (no accident that Wolfe takes away the obvious, father-slot, and gives it to Ouen). Severian's 
life resembles that of a Greek Hero. Many of the heroes (and I think of one in particular) have a god
in their ancestry.

As has been discussed on the board recently, conflating pagan gods and aliens has been a common SF-Fantasy
trope for years. In the broadest sense, Gnostic thought is also important to BotNS by many references.
Gnostic thought conflates pagan gods with fallen angels, with debate over which are which. These principles
guided Wolfe in his writing of BoTNS.

Sigh, sorry that's the best I can do right now. I will try to answer any questions on how these pieces
assemble to a whole. Really, I think the best way could be to re-read the text with these ideas in mind.
As mentioned, at least for me, doing that creates an "ohh..!" moment here and there during reading.

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