not quite Father Inire's mirrors . . .

Jeff Wilson · 09 Jun 2011, 04:54 · from 2011-June.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:54:01 -0500
Subject: (urth) not quite Father Inire's mirrors . . .
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W59502C6137126EB50993FACF620 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W59502C6137126EB50993FACF620 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4DF051E9.1080900 at io.com>

On 6/8/2011 12:08 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>> Gerry Quinn: Perhaps reflected reality generates more pressure than reflected light!
>> (Of course, Inire's mirrors may not be identical to Tzadkiel's sails, even if
>> they share some properties.)
>
> Well, I think we have four examples of mirrors: Father Inire's, the Old Autarch's
> book, Hethor's and the ship sails. I am inclined to think all four are meant to be
> essentially the same sort of thing with the same properties, transportation among
> them.

There's a fifth set, the mirrored portion of Hall of Meaning at the 
House Absolute where Domnina and Thecla were playing. This may or may 
not be the first place Domnina saw the fish.

> I don't think the ship sails are meant to be light sails. There seems to be no
> stellar origin to its propulsion (aside from some dreamy, perhaps misinformed
> poetic report by Severian). It seems to confine its travels to the void. Moreover,
> iirc, when it travels to the higher universe it passes through the primeval soup of
> our own universal origin, where all the stars are clumped together. I'd think all that
> light would push intensely hard against light sails, rather than draw them in.

That's at the end of Chapter XV in URTH, right? But tat the beginning of 
Chapter XV, Sev makes it clear the ship was traveling away from the 
brightness: "....behind us, where once I had seen the corona lucis of 
the young suns, I now saw our universe..."

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >

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