Father Inire as Dionysus

Lee Berman · 21 Oct 2011, 17:08 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:08:53 -0400
Subject: (urth) Father Inire as Dionysus
Message-ID: <SNT123-W6E58B279AF8B8CB006102CFE80 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: However, I'm getting at why Severian would not tell us 
>that Hethor and your other suspects are Inire. Does he not see? Or is he 
>hiding it? If he is hiding it, why---which of the three reasons for a 
>dishonest memoir applies?

Thanks for that question. A couple hours ago I would have answered that it
seems most likely that Severian is deliberately hiding the knowledge and I
would have discussed some possible reasons. (What are "the three reasons for
a dishonest memoir"? Sorry if I missed that being posted).

But your question led me to some new insight, which I will share very soon.
Perhaps with a bit more time to ponder, and knowing specifically what the "three
reasons" are.

>That's an interesting distinction in the context of Briah. Is there a 
>Xian precedent for it? (Life = eternal life, or eternal growth?)

I may not be enough of a Xian scholar to answer that. But it is my observation
that in many religions, including ancient Greek and Teutonic and Judeo-Christianity 
(and even their literary inspirations such as LOTR), human mortality is a gift
disguised as a curse.

We humans don't want to die and we envy the immortal gods. But as a race, we benefit
from our mortality. Our short lives are connected to our great fertility, which is 
something the gods never have. They are bored and they cannot evolve. We can, because
we have lots of children and while we die, the kids quickly grow up and have their own.

I think size IS related to this and I think Wolfe recognizes it. One ubiquitous feature
of the pagan gods is that their true size is titanic. They must find a way to create a
miniturized human form if they are going to walk among us and interact.

>Wait! What does Talos know about Sev's mother?

Well, this relies on a few things. One is that the oval faced, olive-skinned maid who plays 
Holy Katharine is Catherine, Severian's mother. Another is an understanding that the oval-
faced, olive skinned woman that Severian sees on the Path of Air is Catherine.

Given those things, it becomes clear (to me, anyway) that Dr. Talos, in writing his play,
knows that Catherine is Severian's mother. He writes in the play that the Contessa Carina 
(form of Catherine) is on the Road of Air being observed by a young man who looks like Severian. 
This Contessa is served by three maids all of who have beheaded saint names (Lybe, Solange and 
Kynaburga). And of course the maid Catherine is associated with beheading. And "maids" might be 
suspected to be a euphemism for khaibits "(credit to Dave Tallman for the original observations 
here).

(p.s. I can see the Dr. Crane similarity)

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