Are the Neighbors REALLY the Neighbors?

David Stockhoff · 15 Feb 2011, 22:07 · from 2011-February.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:07:13 -0500
Subject: (urth) Are the Neighbors REALLY the Neighbors?
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W45772843508D11DFE6D07CFD30 at phx.gbl>
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On 2/15/2011 4:12 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> >Moses bound to/under a rock? Where's this?
> Well, not with a chain. But he was unable to go past Mt. Nebo, only viewing the promised land from there.
> And he died soon after viewing it. Does Wolfe (and Michaelangelo?) make the connection between Moses and
> Prometheus/Azazel and scapegoats? I dunno. Bringer of fire, light, laws, war, weapons, beautification and
> taking the blame and punshment from a jealous father god seems to be a recurring underlying theme in ancient
> religion. (actually bringing water inappropriately was apparently Moses' biggest sin).
>
>
The woman read: "Then he went up from the plain to Mt. Nebo, the 
headland that faces the city, and the Compassionating showed him the 
whole country, all the land as far as the Western Sea. Then he said to 
him: 'This is the land I swore to your fathers I should give their sons. 
You have seen it, but you shall not set your feet upon it.' So there he 
died, and was buried in the ravine."

>> >Suddenly I have a glimpse of an interpretive schema in which Typhon is actually the real hero of the Solar cycle...
> I kinda know what you mean. I always hated Typhon and considered him the worst of all villains. Until it occurred
> to me that he didn't really do anything so bad, especially with regard to Severian. No different than what
> Severian did to Eata in coercing him to be his second. Some conquering, some ruling, some sexual perversion but
> no worse than the Commonwealth is, in its current state. Who did more for humanity, Typhon or Severian...?
>
You mean Typhon is one of those blond jock heroes we love to hate even 
though they are really decent enough, and Severian is a chainsmoking 
goth in black, the kind of rebel/antihero we love to love? I seem to 
recall Lancelot being like that. I think Wolfe has touched on that theme 
elsewhere. (Or Jack vs Sawyer, for a Lost analogy.)
> It seems to me that maybe in the Sun Series things are just reversed from Christianity. The Outsider is a dark God who casts sun and light gods as villains, while ours is a God of Light who casts the dark gods of paganism as villains. Is finding balance what Jesus did for our universe? Grasping at straws but...at least grasping.
Depends what you mean by "things." But achieving "balance" could be 
called "conciliation." Even "reconciliation."


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