Agilus and Agia

Lee Berman · 03 May 2013, 12:01 · from 2013-May.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 08:01:53 -0400
Subject: (urth) Agilus and Agia
Message-ID: <BLU175-W36080314441D4B14DB3094CFBE0 at phx.gbl>

>aaron: Anyone have any good theories about Fechin?

Good theories? I don't know about that. But I think it is a
reasonable guess to think that Wolfe based part of 
the character on Russian artist Nicolai Fechin. It took some 
digging but I think I have determined, from younger self-portraits, 
that both Fechins have red hair.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolai_Fechin

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2142/5732351770_766b0948aa_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2142/5732351770_766b0948aa_z.jpghttp://farm3.staticflickr.com/2142/5732351770_766b0948aa_z.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8zrQ1ChEuE/USAfEKlT9YI/AAAAAAAAOzs/bzABfvMstzg/s1600/fechin+self+portrait1.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8zrQ1ChEuE/USAfEKlT9YI/AAAAAAAAOzs/bzABfvMstzg/s1600/fechin+self+portrait1.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8zrQ1ChEuE/USAfEKlT9YI/AAAAAAAAOzs/bzABfvMstzg/s1600/fechin+self+portrait1.jpg
My not-so-good theory is that Fechin is another incarnation of
Father Inire. Like Borski, I think that Inire's absence is an
invitation for the reader to find him, wherever he might appear,
though I do think I have a better explanation for why Inire would appear
so many times.

The tools we are given to conduct the search are the constellation
of things we know about Inire: appearing small, bent, old, monkey-like, 
an association with art and museums, a lech for young human women, and
perhaps a few others. Each appearance of Inire will demonstrate some
of the characteristics, but none will display all of them. That's the
puzzle I think we are presented.

With Fechin we have the characteristics of art, old, monkey-like and
the lech. Moreover we have Rudesind as a bridging character between
Fechin and Father Inire, speaking of both as though they were his master.

(not to ignore that Rudesind himself is small, old, bent, monkey-like and 
associated with art and museums. Rudesind describes a painting that Fechin
made of him when he was a boy. The painting has paintbrushes shown next to
him. It is an old mystery-solving trope, e.g. Encyclopedia Brown or
Hardy Boys, where the mystery is solved when it is recognized that a painting
of someone with paintbrushes is a self-portrait)

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