reflected light

maa32 · 15 Nov 2002, 15:33 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) reflected light
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 08:33:36 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2107 at digest.urth.net>
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Thanks Don.

I'm glad you give some credit to my theories. In any case, there was one ot=
her=20
bit of evidence that many dismissed out of hand - Fr. Inire's mirrors and t=
he=20
Big fleshy book of the autarch from Claw of the Conciliator. In the botanic=
al=20
gardens of Shadow of the Torturer, there is a fine scene in which Inire's=20
mirrors are explained as "reflected light" that can reappear in random plac=
es=20
of the universe when there is no object there to create them. As a vortex o=
f=20
time, perhaps the resonance with Severian allows strange light anomalies in=20
the sky. Severian is in some small way a reflection of the light of the New=20
Sun, and this light allows him to transcend time - and, of course, I had=20
similar thoughts about the cessation of time when reading the opening scene=
s=20
of Book of the Long Sun due to FTL time dilation. And check out the weird=20
stuff that goes on when the Autarch opens that book, which Severian seems t=
o=20
think is made of his own flesh.

Anyway, perhaps when Silk grabs the ball, the whorl slows down from FTL or=20
light speed and then enters the normal time stream - perhaps his re-entry i=
nto=20
the universe causes the brain abnormality or heightened consciousness that=20
allows Silk a communion with the Outsider - he has re-entered time - perhap=
s=20
Pas planned it so that when the ship slowed down that a cloned embryo would=20
respond by being enlightened and unconsciously rise to power and enact the=20
Exodus that had been foretold. Silk then becomes just another part of the=20
program of the whorl. Pretty neat, I guess, even though I don't think Mr.=20
Wolfe favors a completely deterministic world view such as that might prese=
nt.

One more thing - the first time I read that "recollect ther craws, buckie?"=20
from Pig I thought he was asking if Silk remembered the cross of Christ fro=
m=20
his enlightenment - I'm pretty sure his experience with the outsider involv=
ed=20
an image of a man similar to Christ.  Of course he was refering to crows, b=
ut=20
I thought maybe it could have been one of those Joycean word plays.  Since =
Pig=20
is a portion of Silk, and Silk is a portion of Silk, perhaps they share tha=
t=20
memory in common.  Whatever.

Have a nice day, all.
Marc Aramini

--=20

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