Theories

Andrew Mason · 24 Oct 2011, 13:58 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:58:21 +0100
Subject: (urth) Theories
Message-ID: <CAM3O41J5RjsLBd6AQqeN01zzAh9xtCtBBJKeqzxE6pqh5LLkNA at mail.gmail.com>

. I think that the story functions on a few levels. There is clearly
the hero quest which is most accessible on the surface. The page
turning element, if you will. Nobody disputes the fact that there is a
torturer's apprentice who becomes the next Autarch and eventually
becomes bringer of the New Sun.
>
> However, on the second level, there is the context of the story, which Gene has quite a lot of fun subverting through the subjectivity of his narrator. The Citadel being an old ship yard, the soldier with a staff being an astronaut on the moon. The fact that you feel like you're reading a medieval story fraught with baroque imagery and guilds and masters and sneaky wizards wielding shifty magic; when in fact this is a distant future on a future cycle of a similar universe.
>
> Then there is a third level, which re-evaluates just what exactly is going on with Severian. Who is he? What machinations are luring around the corner? Who might be pulling the strings? What's with all of the mysterious actions and appearances of characters? Why are people guiding and spying on him?
>
> I think this third element is extremely valid and highly informative to how to interact with the story. Of course, you can leave it alone after a first reading satisfied, or read it a second time with a wry smile as you see things that he was hiding in plain sight the first time around. Nobody suggests otherwise. But it is hard to dispute the reality that "nothing is what it seems" is something Wolfe is interested in here and in other works.

I would see all three of these levels as part of the visible meaning
of the story. By a surface reading I don't mean a superficial one; I
just mean  one that an attentive reader can get first time round,
rather than needing twenty years of discussion to find. (And I'm not
saying everything is on the surface in this way, just that enough to
give us a basic idea of what the story is about is.) Severian
explicitly refers to the propulsion chambers in the towers; Rudesind
tells him that the 'soldier' is on the moon.  Likewise, Rudesind later
says that Inire has given him lines to speak, and the Autarch says
that he has a spy among the torturers. These aspects of meaning are
not hidden (though specific facets of them may be, of course).

That Severian is in some sense a puppet is clear - his life is to a
large extent being organised by forces beyond his control, as is shown
by the fact that those forces actually reveal themselves and explain
what they are up to from time to time. But if it means that he never
at any time has a grasp of what is going on - well, I think things
Wolfe has said in interviews show that he sees the New Sun as
basically a good thing and Severian as  a saviour, so it looks as if
the destination he is moving towards is indeed in essence what he
thinks it is.

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