The Wizard

Gerry Quinn · 06 Mar 2012, 19:21 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 19:21:40 -0000
Subject: (urth) The Wizard
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W536DF4322F460DC291EB25CF510 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W536DF4322F460DC291EB25CF510 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <7976BBFDFA0640DCB5A5709A8E9E2288@Rover>



From: Lee Berman 
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 6:33 PM


> On the other hand, I could see how quality might trump quantity
> for a Christian reader reading a Christian author. One "sign of
> addition" could outshine a hundred Typhons and Tzadkiels and
> Sphigxs and Scyllas and Echidnas and Thyones and Thelxiepeias.

Don?t confuse the names with the significance.  The monarch named Typhon is *not* the ancient monster Typhon.  Only Thyone on that list above is the same Thyone.
Whereas if the ?Sign of Addition? comes from the Cross it is more than a name.
 
> > Gerry Quinn: So why do you think Wolfe put Jesus in?  To confuse 
> > people?  There was nothing that obliged him to put in the reference.  
> > Or if he really did want to say that Jesus in Silk?s universe was 
> > not Christ, he could have put some hint in here.  (But then why does 
> > the Outsider show him to Silk?).
 
> I don't find it confusing. The biggest hint I find is that The Outsider
> is a dark god. Darkness defines Him. I assume Jesus in that universe was
> a dark, Outsider prophet, like Severian. Thus both were shown to Silk.
 
Is the Outsider described as dark in the universe in general ? or just in the sub-universe known as the Whorl?
It?s dark outside the Whorl (though when Wolfe describes space he never fails to mention light as well, coming from the stars, and once from the sun of Blue/Green).  But in the literal exodus, it is into this very darkness that they must flee in order to survive.  The significance of darkness in this story from the Whorl is very different from the significance of darkness in stories from our world.
I?ve noted before how the descriptions of the Outsider in the three lists of characters in Long Sun seem to match the Trinity quite well.
- Gerry Quinn
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