Father Inire as Dionysus

Lee Berman · 25 Oct 2011, 02:43 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:43:41 -0400
Subject: (urth) Father Inire as Dionysus
Message-ID: <SNT123-W38CE7866911F2A0E90FC05CFEC0 at phx.gbl>

> Can the custom of calling the sea-monsters 'Megatherians' be
> sanctified in the same way?

>Jeff Wilson: Sure, since they are megatherians, though perhaps not the 

>same people as depicted in _Lives of the Seventeen Megatherians_.

Well, yes, megatherian means "great beast" and Abaia is sometimes referred

to as Great Beast Abaia. It seems like one of the easier puzzles to solve.

I don't understand why the book can't be about the sea monsters though. Don't

they have lives?

Jeff if you are implying that our myths and legends of ancient gods and monsters

were probably inspired by various real kings and mean guys, I agree. However I

think Wolfe, while also sort of agreeing, makes his fiction a little more blurred

on the lines of myth and reality.

I REALLY think Wolfe uses an animalistic nature to mark the demonic from the angelic

(as the Bible also does). We have the great beasts in the ocean, we have Inire and

his monkey nature and The Cumaean and her snakey nature. This is in contrast to 

Barbatus and Famulimus who wear horrible animal masks but only to disguise their

superhuman beauty.

You have to wonder about Tzadkiel though. He displays animalistic trends (meaning

the monkey-like Zak, his butterfly wings and the mention of his "larvae). But he/she

also possesses superhuman beauty. An all-in-one god? Angel and demon? Hm.......

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