Key to the Universe

DAVID STOCKHOFF · 17 Dec 2010, 21:53 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (DAVID STOCKHOFF)
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:53:00 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (urth) Key to the Universe
In-Reply-To: <4D0BD0C8.1050509 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <792639.46457.qm at web84104.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I know what you mean.
On one hand, the Alice quote is a legitimate literary allusion. On the other hand, Jonas quotes it.
It appears that Urth has tracked Earth unnervingly closely in some ways. But if you look at the Jungle Room, where apparently historical characters appear anachronistically, perhaps there are serious differences, proving that there can be serious differences.

--- On Fri, 12/17/10, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:

From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Key to the Universe
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Date: Friday, December 17, 2010, 4:06 PM

> Lee Berman-
> Some of the stuff could be just Urthly versions of Earth stuff, like the moon astronaut. But some
> seem too perfectly Earthian to be seen that way. I think Jonas' literary allusions are the best example.
> His Alice/Looking Glass quote and him supplying the Earth/Theseus ending to Severian's story "proves" to
> me that he (robot form) has either been to Earth or, more likely, spent significant time with true Earth books. ??? ???????? ?????? ??? 

I'm probably just old-fashioned --a meat and potatoes SF guy-- but I find it really unappealing that Neil Armstrong is not in Severian's chronological past. Part of the fun of that scene for me is the way the perception of symbols change due to Time.

I'm quite aware that this sort of "aesthetic blowback" always annoys me when I confront it with _my_ theories, but there it is.

u+16b9
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