Typhon's nature

Lee Berman · 15 Oct 2011, 15:35 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:35:43 -0400
Subject: (urth) Typhon's nature
Message-ID: <SNT123-W907F8FDB681D1FEA5278DCFE60 at phx.gbl>

> Surely these things are obvious? We know he had the technology,
> because the Whorl is loaded with it. It seems obvious that a
> technology that can produce Mucor or a psychic internet can
> prevent, say, the blindness of Tartarus, who seems otherwise
> sound. So Typhon must have chosen not to use it.

> Typhon would have LOVED genetically getting the 
> perfect heir, and somehow his technology either didn't foresee or 
> couldn't predict Tartarus' blindness. He wants a more worthy son after 
> all these failures, so he decides to get the perfect one. That's what 
> he wants.

I feel the discussion needs appreciation of another auctorial level for

more complete comprehension. While the Sun series is SF and contains politico-

religious philosophy it also involves intensely personal allegory.

Choose whatever text-related reason makes the most sense to you, but Typhon cannot 

have a perfect spouse and perfect children because Gene Wolfe (and everyone he knows 

and has ever known of) does not have a perfect spouse nor perfect children.

FWIW, I don't think WOlfe is simply commenting on the human (or sentient being)

condition. The issues and emotions that he describes are not that generic. I think 

the familial problems encountered by Severian, Typhon, Silk and Horn reflect, to a

large degree, the personal issues Gene WOlfe himself has faced in his life. Interviews 

and anecdotal information I've encountered seem to confirm this.

Voyeurism component aside, this is an important literary consideration. If Wolfe 

feels the strong need to express his life's personal tribulations and anguishes,

he also feels the need to disguise them enough to protect the privacy of his family.

I believe this is one of the primary motivators for Wolfe making so much of his work

so cryptic.

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