The Best Introduction to the Mountains

Thomas Bitterman · 30 Jan 2002, 18:09 · from urth-v0202.mbox · original

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From: Thomas Bitterman <tom at bitterman.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) The Best Introduction to the Mountains
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 13:09:30 -0500
Message-ID: <urth-v0202-20 at digest.urth.net>
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Michael Straight wrote:

>And, to return to the original point, how on Urth does any of this
>constitute Gene Wolfe expressing the opinion that rebelling against
>tyranny is wrong?!?
>
Wolfe is more or less committed to the "rebellion is wrong" party due to=20
his adherence
to Catholic theology.  From the Catholic Encyclopedia: >>... God is at=20
the back of every
State, binding men in conscience to observe the behests of the State=20
within the sphere
of its competence.<<

Whether rebelling against tyranny is is wrong depends on what is meant=20
by "tyranny".
Again, from the Catholic Encyclopedia: >>"a tyrannical law, not being=20
according to
reason, is not, absolutely speaking, a law, but rather a perversion of=20
law" (St. Thomas,
Summa Theol., la, 2ae, q. 92, art. 1, ad 4)<<.  If Wolfe is thinking of=20
a tyranny as
simply a government which enforces tyrannical laws, then his characters=20
are certainly
in the right when they decline to obey such tyrannical laws.  It is not=20
clear, however that
characters in such a situation have a right (or a duty) to rebel against=20
such authority.

If Wolfe means by tyranny simply an unpopular dictatorship, then it is=20
clear that his
characters have no right to rebel against it.  Again, from the Catholic=20
Encyclopedia:
 >>... there must be authority everywhere, and that the authority=20
existent for the time
being, under such and such a form, be under that form obeyed... <<

It doesn't appear that the Autarch is enforcing any tyrannical laws to=20
speak of, so
Severian is clearly required to obey him.  It's possible that the=20
failing of one of
the earlier versions of Sev was rebelling.

If I had to hazard a guess at the relationship between the Autarch and=20
Vodalus, it
would be God:Autarch::Satan:Vodalus.  Vodalus is the "Prince of Lies",=20
even to the
point of giving his followers fake currency as a token of alliegance.=20
 He also serves
the Autarch, though he does not know it, and so many purportedly evil=20
deeds only
turn out to serve good in the end.  And for a requisite bit of misogyny=20
it can be noted
that Vodalus has a consort, while the Autarch, most pointedly, does not.

>
>-Rostrum
>
Tom

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