Oannes

David Stockhoff · 17 Mar 2012, 01:13 · from 2012-March.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 21:13:32 -0400
Subject: (urth) Oannes
In-Reply-To: <CAM3O41JhCRAjfBUSTdpcjM2H7VAViL+3GPmcE4Gx0Qku6hLR5Q at mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAM3O41JhCRAjfBUSTdpcjM2H7VAViL+3GPmcE4Gx0Qku6hLR5Q at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4F63E53C.50809 at verizon.net>

And isn't Oannes the Babylonian fish god?

On 3/16/2012 6:35 PM, Andrew Mason wrote:
> I mentioned a while ago the way in which, in Long Sun/Short Sun,  the
> lesser gods can sometimes become manifestations of the true God,
> culminating  in the Rajan's statement near the end that 'insofar as
> they are gods at all they are him'.  I've realised that there is
> something similar in _New Sun_, in the Oannes passage (SOTL 31), 'I
> did not believe in Oannes or fear him. But I knew, I thought, whence
> he came - I knew that there is an all-pervasive power in the universe
> of which every other is the shadow. I knew that my conception of that
> power was as laughable (and as serious) as Oannes.' The power is
> identified as the Increate at the end of the chapter.
>
> Later, in _Urth_, Severian says that he has become the Oannes of  his
> people. Might this be a clue to what Wolfe means by saying that
> Severian is a form of the Outsider?
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