Fairies and Wolfe

David Stockhoff · 02 Apr 2012, 15:25 · from 2012-April.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:25:38 -0400
Subject: (urth) Fairies and Wolfe
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Message-ID: <4F79C4F2.9050209 at verizon.net>

True. That term occurs in embedded stories rather than in Severian's 
mouth at least half the time, which has led me to consider it a kind of 
secondary belief, i.e., perhaps folkloric. Note that in your quote 
Severian sees the Pancreator with a hand, unlike the Increate, so it is 
in a way a specifically human understanding or extension of the 
Increate's being. As such it must fall short.

Sometimes when the term appears it suggests the Stoic-influenced 
interpretation of Genesis: "Surely the Pancreator knows all mysteries. 
He spoke the long word that is our universe . . . " My point here is 
that this is only one interpretation, one philosophic (or sophist) 
approach, and therefore a kind of sub-story.

Which is not to dismiss it. The Pancreator seems to be the Increate 
caught in the act of creating. But what exactly he directly created 
beyond "our universe" is unclear.

On 4/2/2012 10:33 AM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
> There's a certain plausibility to your suggestion, David.  I too have 
> sometimes wondered about what seemed a lack of emphasis on God as 
> Creator in Wolfe.  But he does work it in there at times, sometimes 
> rather overtly and powerfully:
>
> 'But 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/But>everything 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/everything>had 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/had>approached 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/approached>and 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/and> even 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/even>touched 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/touched>the 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/the>*Pancreator* <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/Pancreator>, 
> because 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/because>everything 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/everything>had 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/had>dropped 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/dropped>from 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/from>his 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/his>hand 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/hand>. 
> Everything 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/Everything>was 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/was> a relic 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/relic>. All 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/All>the 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/the>world 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/world>was 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/was> a relic 
> <http://quotebook.us/statements_aphorisms_quotes_about/relic>.'
>
> The Increate is not the only divine name in Wolfe...
>
> -DOJP
>
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:58 PM, David Stockhoff 
> <dstockhoff at verizon.net <mailto:dstockhoff at verizon.net>> wrote:
>
>     On 4/2/2012 9:05 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
>
>         I agree with David Stockhoff's assessment that godly beings
>         have a hand in their
>         own creation in BotNS. But I see this as Wolfe's extrapolation
>         of the principle
>         that God created man in His own image. If God is alpha and
>         omega it makes a sort
>         of circular logic that Man created God in his own image.
>
>
>     Possibly irrelevantly, I have my own ideas about that word
>     "create." I don't think Wolfe believes God created Man at all, but
>     rather that he brought about human evolution by the very sort of
>     invisible, incremental, independent forces that are dramatized in
>     BTNS and clarified in UTNS. He is the Increate---the only
>     uncreated being---not the Creator. He does nothing but /be, /and
>     matter is attracted to him, inevitably organizing itself in his
>     image.
>
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