Lupiverse(es)

Lee Berman · 14 Mar 2012, 19:03 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:03:00 -0400
Subject: (urth) Lupiverse(es)
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1087F74F28A70E9D32AEDCF590 at phx.gbl>

Craig Brewer: 
>1) The sun was dying out (whether "naturally" or because of the Hieros), 
>so humanity was up a creek, anyway. From a broad perspective, the flood's 
>"genocide" also kept humanity on Urth/Ushas going, creating (if not exactly 
>saving) more lives.

I disagree. In the Master Ash episode, he makes it clear to Severian that
almost the entire population was rescued from the freezing Urth. Making it
clear to the reader that renewing the planet was not for the purpose of
saving or preserving humanity per se. Wolfe would not have put this section
in unless he was trying to say it was more than a racial survival issue.

Either millions of people died in the Flood on Urth over a simple nostalgia
for renewing the physical planet of origin or there is something more deeply 
spiritual going on. (though nostalgia is a form of spirituality I'd say).

>2) Renewing the sun isn't a spiritual salvation like Christ's sacrifice.

Agreed. But renewing the sun is like Noah's Flood which I think Wolfe is trying
to say WAS a form of spiritual salvation of humanity. I'm not sure how most
Christian theologians feel about Noah's Flood but this view makes sense if you
don't want to believe in a God who is capriciously genocidal and/or uncaring 
about His creations. To justify the Flood, one must believe in a huge spiritual
benefit to balance the painful deaths of so many millions of people and animals.

 Urth continues, and it's a better place, but it's not a perfect "Christian" world, 
right? There's still something like idol worship of Severian, etc. But at least it's 
closer, right?  So it's like steps toward salvation where the central "true" story 
gradually becomes more and better understood/told/remembered/lived. 

>3) ...Obviously, life just keeps going on Ushas, although in a different (and hopefully 
>better) form. ...I'm not saying you can't still draw "spiritual" conclusions about all of 
>this. But they're going to be more indirect, I think, than "this is Wolfe's final theological >statement on X." For example: Urth continues, and it's a better place, but it's not a perfect >"Christian" world, right? There's still something like idol worship >of Severian, etc. But at 
>least it's closer, right? ..

Yes. 100% agreed.

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