C.S. Lewis

Daniel Fusch · 27 May 2000, 07:49 · from urth-v0029.mbox · original

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From: "Daniel Fusch" <dfusch at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) C.S. Lewis
Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 00:49:08 PDT
Message-ID: <urth-v0029-0042 at digest.urth.net>
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>From: akt at attglobal.net
>
>I would appreciate more on this. I've read these books (not for years,
>true) without conciously picking up these points. And does Wolfe really
>echo them? Typhon, who lives for centuries, is bad. But the Green Man,
>Sev himself, everyone on the starship are not immortal, but are
>long-lived. Tzad is probably immortal (but also supernatural).
>
>-alga

I'm interested in this, too. I have only a vague recollection of "Out of th=
e=20
Silent Planet," but didn't that novel end with the antagonists being sent=20
back to earth so that they would not pollute the peaceful inhabitants of an=20
Edenic paradise with vain and self-destructive philosophies?

Incidentally, I remember the same thread appearing in L'Engle's work--A=20
Wrinkle in Time--with the difference that the silent planet was there a=20
shadowed planet. The similarity was that travelers from earth were viewed=20
with suspicion (at first) on the planet neighboring Camazotz, once the=20
inhabitants learned of their origin.

But, not to meander--wouldn't the Green Man be an example of redeemed=20
humanity, or the Urth equivalent thereof? In the Green Man's time, Urth has=20
already been transformed into Ushas, there is a new sun, and the world is=20
filled with verdure and life.

As for the state of affairs on Urth, it seems to me that the Autarchs have=20
closed the roads, abandoned spaceflight, etc., not to prevent humanity from=20
spreading like a plague and infecting the rest of the universe, but rather=20
to lock society into an earthbound holding pattern, so that the Autuarchs=20
can maintain a status quo until the coming of the New Sun. The alternative,=20
from the Autarchs' point of view, would be endless warring, the ceaseless=20
rise and collapse of empires, turmoil without end; they have tried every=20
system of government available throughout the millenia, but none of these=20
have worked. Vodalus' dreams of progress and glory are illusory; from this=20
view, conquest of the stars would simply increase the scope of the turmoil=20
that is human history.

Therefore, it is necessary to lock everything in place until the New Sun=20
comes to make all things new both spiritually and physically.

=46rom the old Autarch's death scene in Citadel:

"I stand...you will stand...for so much that is wrong.... Because all else=20
is worse. Until the New Sun comes, we have but a choice of evils. All have=20
been tried, and all have failed. Goods in common, the rule of the=20
people...everything. You wish for progress? The Ascians have it. They are=20
deafened by it, crazed by the death of Nature until they are ready to accep=
t=20
Erebus and the rest as gods. We hold humankind stationary...in barbarism.=20
The Autarch protects the people from the exultants, and the=20
exultants...shelter them from the Autarch. The religious comfort them. We=20
have closed the roads to paralyze the social order.... Until the New=20
Sun...."

This paralysis allows the Autarchs to keep the society in stasis--and thus=20
in peace and order--as they wait for the New Sun. The Autarchs would be=20
fatalists, if it were not for their certainty of the coming of the New Sun=20
and the rebirth/renewal of Urth.

Meanwhile--I think--some of the Hierodules drop by periodically to help=20
guide humanity and prepare everything for the New Sun. I think. I've never=20
been entirely clear on the role of the Hierodules in their ministering to=20
humanity. But then, I don't know whether Severian was entirely clear on tha=
t=20
point, either.

The short version of all this is that immortality and the colonization of=20
space are sinful only in the sense that they are self-destructive. By=20
spreading across the universe, homo sapiens does not harm others so much as=20
harm itself, by increasing the political, economical, and social chaos of=20
the species. I'm not certain whether Wolfe addresses the issue of=20
immortality, but I suspect that if he did his ruling would be that=20
immortality is not sinful in of itself, but is inherently perilous and=20
detrimental because it extends one's sinful or chaotic condition. Death--as=20
long as the world and humanity as a whole is in a decaying state--is not=20
necessarily a bad thing; an eternity of decay would be worse. However, I=20
have no textual support at hand for this, so this remains mere speculation.

What do you think?

Daniel
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