Father Inire-Hethor

Lee Berman · 20 Oct 2011, 01:56 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:56:27 -0400
Subject: (urth) Father Inire-Hethor
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1058B87FE1903CF9BC0BABCFEB0 at phx.gbl>

>>But doesn't Severian see Isangoma's face?

>Andrew Mason: Yes, but Severian is allowed to see Inire's face once - the problem is
>if he sees it more than once, in which case he should spot the identity.

The question for me is whether Severian would report his recognition of Father Inire

to us if he did spot the identity. And since Severian has been working closely with

Father Inire for 10 years as his vizier at the time of writing BotNS, I think that is

enough time for Severian to be able to spot him in retrospect (and that photographic

memory) and tell us whenever and wherever he is seen in the story.

Since Severian never tells us about a Father Inire appearance we might conclude Inire 

never appears. But if we think he DOES appear, then we have some very serious 

questions to answer about why Severian isn't telling us about him.

If Inire is just the cowled servitor and the jungle guide and Isangoma, then he doesn't 

matter very much. He is just a cameo appearance like Alfred Hitchock or Stan Lee popping

up briefly in their movies. And perhaps that's all Inire is...just a wink and nod. For me,

Severian's reticence must have more meaning than just to pull off this little parlour trick

of a couple cameos.

The linchpin for me is the leap of intuitive faith that Inire is Dorcas' husband. That ties 

him to the other two boatmen characters who talk about undines. WHich helps tie him to Hethor. 

Then there is Rusesind and Fechin in the mix. There are a few other appearances also (most 

notably Ceryx). 

If it is understood that Father Inire is filling all these roles he becomes more than a cameo. 

He becomes a hidden but essential part of the entire story from beginning to end. He is the 

Secret House to the main text's House Absolute. Hidden, but still continguously built within

the main structure of the text.  That's how I see him.

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