More on Frog and Fish

Andrew Mason · 26 May 2011, 20:06 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 21:06:41 +0100
Subject: (urth) More on Frog and Fish
Message-ID: <BANLkTikY_HhuaUvGcyZ92fka3R57vdw2vg at mail.gmail.com>

James Wynn wrote:

> But we know more about Severian than anyone else in the book, yet beyond
> very broad outlines (in some cases), he doesn't seem to map or be
> mappable. The whole bit about the Butcher and the wolves...and just
> can't see how to force him into it. And there are elements that don't
> really seem to work at all. Even after Urth of the New Sun, the
> end-story doesn't look like Severian at all. That flood would be hard to
> miss.

But I don't think the myth has to be applicable in every detail. The
myths which are applied to Jesus don't fit him in every detail;
_Frankenstein_ doesn't fit Baldanders in every detail (though, come to
think of it, his backward influence may explain why so many people
confuse the creator with the monster). The story follows the myths so
closely (counting _The Jungle Book_ as a myth, as it will be by then),
 that I don't think it can apply in detail to any future person,
unless his life bore an incredibly close resemblance to the myths. So
the connection must be looser. (That doesn't rule out there being some
hidden connections as well as the obvious ones. I don't know what,
though.)

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