eponymous time travel

maa32 · 25 Mar 2002, 15:18 · from urth-v0203.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) eponymous time travel
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 08:18:39 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0203-431 at digest.urth.net>
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One of the biggest obstacles to my hackneyed (to the point of exhaustion)=20
short sun interpretation is proving that Silk/Horn can move through time, a=
nd=20
specifically proving that Rigoglio/Roger has some reason for traveling to t=
he=20
particular time of Severian from the far future.  I have done the whole=20
"return to the past through dreams", "my travels are dreams", "mother's son=
g=20
is one of time" thing, but that doesn't seem enough to rationalize why.  My=20
only other defense (previously) was that if we think the Neighbors have mov=
ed=20
on but are still around, then have they gone through time? (it is a higher=20
dimension, after all).  If you say that Blue is not Urth, where have these=20
neighbors gone, and why did they come back?  I say it is, and that they onc=
e=20
lived on Urth/Blue.=20
But here is something new:

Here is an interesting quote from Chapter XIX of Shadow of the torturer: Th=
e=20
botanic gardens:
"'supposing him - we turn at this corner, Severian, you may see the head of=20
the stair, if you'll look, there where the STATUES OF THE EPONYMS stand -=20
supposing him to have lived, he was by definiton the Master of Power.  Whic=
h=20
means the transcendence of reality, and includes the negation of time.  Isn=
't=20
that correct?'
I nodded.
'Then there is nothing to prevent him, from a position, say, of thirty tous=
and=20
years ago, coming into what we call the present.  Dead or not, if he ever=20
existed, he could be around the next bend of the street or the next turn of=20
the week." (Shadow and Claw, 119)

Notice that this is the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, where time is nega=
ted=20
and Isongoma and the missionaries can be seen due to the bending reflection=
 of=20
time (remember that Father Inires mirrors, based on reflection, can summon=20
things from different times and places). =20
Remember how I couldn't account for how the red light of Urth could be seen=20
from Blue in that one chapter?  doesn't that sound like the principle behin=
d=20
Inire's mirrors (remember that one short sun story in Endangered Species ab=
out=20
the doll and the cat in the mirrors?) where light is reflected on itself an=
d=20
produces weird things?
Also, remember what Rigoglio says as soon as he gets to Urth? "THE EPONYMS"=
. =20
I propose that the eponyms exist in a metanymic relationship to the botanic=20
gardens - they are responsible for its time bending properties - and note h=
ow=20
they are thrown in the middle of the discussion above about the negation of=20
time.  Wolfe likes to put two apparently unrelated things together to=20
associate them.
The eponyms may provide some precedent for the bending of time - and it is =
the=20
first thing that Rigoglio says when he gets there.  How else can we explain=20
the properties of the Botanic gardens?  I am saying they may have some kind=
 of=20
time bending property, and that this bending may be responsible for some of=20
the light that can be seen "from a different time".  Note that even though=20
Severian and Agia can see the missionaries, only the primitive can sense th=
em.
=20
While this is not definitive or clear, I think it establishes a nice=20
synchronic theme.  Here are some of the points of contiguity between Shadow=20
and the Short Sun books in which small details become important:
Missing guard at the gate explained
eponym statues
Rudesind's explanation of the moon and its forest and its new closeness to=20
Urth
Triskelle (???)
Scylla in the harbor
Green Man's evolution

Anything else interesting about the eponyms in the text?  I think they show=
 up=20
near the Vatic fountain in Claw, but I need to check for sure.
Marc Aramini

--=20

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