Plant/Animal

Lee · 15 Sep 2014, 18:46 · from 2014-September.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee)
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:46:16 -0400
Subject: (urth) Plant/Animal
Message-ID: <BLU175-W11C21219A24DED60865769CFC80 at phx.gbl>

>Marc Aramini: Spring Wind being half plant caught me a bit off guard -

>I obviously hadn't read that since I devised the man-tree hybrid scheme 

>of  Short Sun.  Definitely those embedded stories would have told us the real 

>plot and its denouement in a world in which Urth of the New Sun was never 

>written, but they are still somewhat opaque in their syncretic blending of stories 

>of Mowgli, Moses, myth, and more.  What is the Red Flower, the rose without thorns, 

>which gives birth to Spring Wind?  Severian's Claw of the Conciliator probably winds up 

>being the thorn of a flower dipped in his blood.


IIRC you connect this theme to the Vironese custom of plant naming of women and animal

naming of men. Also to the connection between botanic parasitic vine/multi-limbed trees 

and the zoological parasitic inhumi/multi-limbed Neighbors.


I'm pretty sure you've mentioned noticing that early in Shadow of the Torturer, Severian 

describes anticipating a certain light (New Sun) which "engendered life in whatever 

objects it fell upon, so that a leaf plucked from a bush grew slender legs and waving feelers..."


I think you've connected all this to the original Transfiguration which involved Jesus emitting

mystic beams of light signifying his (Conciliatory) status as bridge between heaven and earth.

The Transfiguration continuing to be symbolized by a conversion of the grape and grain plant

products to the animal products of blood and flesh.


But I am hoping you include also the Green Man in the constellation of elements to this theme.

Not only because of his combined nature of plant and animal essence, and his ostensible origin 

from the New Sun light.  


But also because of The Green Man as a pagan deity connected to Great God Pan and Dionysus 

worship for which there are undertones and hints throughout the entire Sun Series and which 

probably represents the connection between Judeo-pagan wine reverence and its importance to 

Christianity.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man

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