Faterh Inire

Andrew Mason · 13 Oct 2011, 13:05 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:05:25 +0100
Subject: (urth) Faterh Inire
Message-ID: <CAM3O41+U-rZjH80upMtSxv2JyYONSYXarBd3zbzHx3ZWF0gg1g at mail.gmail.com>

Larry Miller wrote:

>
> What jungle guide and old boatman are you referring too? ?I an think
> of a few examples of both.

?The jungle guide is the masked figure who leads Vodalus and party
through the jungle in COTA, and occasionally disappears into the
Autarch's litter to talk to him. The old boatman is Dorcas's husband.

I agree that the jungle guide is probably Inire. I don't accept most
of the other identifications, because I don't think Inire is a
shape-shifter (except, possibly, that he can turn himself into a
tiger), so anyone Severian sees full-face can't be him (or, strictly,
more than one person can't, see below). On his two most certain
appearances he is either hooded or masked. He seems to belong to the
same species as Barbatus and Famulimus, who are also masked.

 Isangoma, as well as the others in the
> jungle hut are from our time period.  Robert and Marie are
> missionaries in South America and they are teaching Isangoma the
> bible.

I do think Isangoma might be Inire. The jungle hut scene is later
compared to the Apu-Punchau scene. That suggests that what is
happening is the recalling of a spirit from the past. We can read it
like this:
Robert = Apu-Punchau, the recalled spirit.
Marie = the inhabitants of the stone town, part of the scene, existing
in the spirit's mind.
Isangoma = the Cumaean, the magician who is recalling him.

This explains why Robert and Isangoma can see Severian and Agia, but
Marie cannot.

'Isangoma' is an African name, yet he does not look African, but South
American. This suggests he is not a real part of Robert's life, but is
playing a part.

As to the identity with Inire, there are two clues - that the jungle
guide, as Lee says, looks like Isangoma, and that Isangoma is talking
about fish just after Severian has told a story about Inire and fish.

Severian is not yet Thecla at this point, so would not recognise
Inire, as he would have done if he had met him later.

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