Father Inire as Dionysus

James Wynn · 25 Oct 2011, 16:13 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:13:30 -0500
Subject: (urth) Father Inire as Dionysus
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On 10/25/2011 10:24 AM, Marc Aramini wrote:

    Yeah, what these guys said.  The interesting thing about this is
    that for the Aelf, humans are the next level "gods", so Able is in
    effect worshipping something that should be serving him with his
    objectification of Disiri.  Is this inversion bad or good?  In
    another spiritual writer I would probably say it's clearly bad, like
    letting money or lust drive us, but it seems as if almost "any"
    noble idealization might be worthy in the absence of the Universal.

I believe this is the over-all "lesson" of The Wizard Knight.
At the time Able is resurrected in Parca's Cave, Humanity is in thrall 
to dragons from the level even below the Aelf. The Aelf in turn are also 
enslaved by a dragon...the brother of the dragons ruling over Humanity. 
Because of the degraded lot of humanity, the Aelf hold them in contempt. 
Everything is topsy-turvey.

Although, Wolfe is not generally an allegorical writer, this aspect IS 
very allegorical. Each level is a representation of human values. The 
people of Skai represent ideals related to Honor. The Aelf, at least as 
far as it touches on Able, represent ideals such as Romantic Love. The 
dragons that have conquered Aelfrice and Mythgarthr are lower ideals, 
such as Sexual Appetite and Greed. All these things, the story explains, 
are good in their place. But if the higher Ideals do not rule over them, 
they become perverse.

Thus, St. Michael rules over Skai's Valfather--summoning him and causing 
him to bow before him. He explains to Able that in order to be a knight, 
he must be able to do the same with Disiri (Romantic Love). If she rules 
over him she will be a plague, not a virtue--just as the dragons have 
become.

When Able IS able to summon her at the end, she is *raised* -- ennobled.

J.

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