Like a good Neighbor

António Pedro Marques · 21 Nov 2011, 15:04 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?QW50w7NuaW8gUGVkcm8gTWFycXVlcw==?=)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:04:22 +0000
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W12963455F84FDBFE8F45A9CFCB0 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W12963455F84FDBFE8F45A9CFCB0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4ECA6876.5000400 at gmail.com>

Lee Berman wrote (21-11-2011 14:19):
>>>>> It seems clear to me that Wolfe presents us with higher beings
>>>>> than humans in the form of the hiero-types, the angelic
>>>>> hierarchy. Can you imagine B, F and O and/or Tzadkiel and Apheta
>>>>> (...)
>
>>>> Entonio: Excuse me, but I don't think those are higher than
>>>> humans.
>
>>> I have no problem with your thoughts about angels, Entonio. But Gene
>>> Wolfe does think they are higher than humans.
>
>> Antonio Pedro Marques: Where did you get that?
>
> The Wolfe quote about angels and Apheta was from the James Jordan
> interview, toward the end.
> http://mysite.verizon.net/~vze2tmhh/wolfejbj.html#urth2

The sense of 'higher' in the interview is not the same as the one in your
argument.
'Angels' are certainly 'closer to God' in Christian view, but it's 'Humans' 
that Creation exists for. You'll find that in every Christian work, 
including Tolkien's. Angels are not a stage Humans are supposed to climb to. 
Now, certainly, Gene Wolfe isn't chained to that view, and the hierofolk 
aren't even presented as analogues to angels in what regards their origin, 
but they actually are quite similar in their function.

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