Quetzal On Urth?

James Jordan · 25 Nov 2002, 23:25 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Quetzal On Urth?
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 17:25:55 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2242 at digest.urth.net>
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At 01:30 PM 11/25/2002, you wrote:
>matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk wrote:
>
> > On 25/11/2002 18:02:17 cilluff1 wrote:
> >
> >> other words, if the inhumi can travel to Urth (as has been
> >> suggested off Quetzal) then they've *got* to do that
> >> We would hear stories of them them on Urth, see one
> >> flying in the distance, observe people who don't eat,
> >> can't run, and lick their chops when someone mentions
> >> blood.  Something.  Some indication.  But there's
> >> nothing.  No indication whatsoever that any of the
> >> inhumi have ever been on Urth.

         I would be kind of weirded out to discover that Gene Wolfe had=20
already thought up the whole Long Sun and New Sun and inhumi businesses at=20
the time he wrote New Sun. I mean, gimmeabreak! It's a bit much to ask to=20
find inhumi in the New Sun quartet/quintet.
         But I think your argument is sound. Once Wolfe came up with the=20
Long Sun and the inhumi, if he were going to put Quetzal on Urth during the=20
time Typhon was abuilding his ark, there'd be some allusion that would=20
point in that direction. Where is it? Nowhere that has been found.
         And there is a perfect place for such a revelation: when Silk=20
travels to Urth in the days of Severian's childhood. Plenty of opportunity=20
for Wolfe to add in an inhumi attack or some other hint of Urthly inhumi.=20
But he doesn't.
         And hey, Allah is just the arabic word for "God." Christians in=20
Arab lands call God "Allah." It's the arabic form of "El" or "Elohim" found=20
in the Hebrew Bible. "Allah" was doubtless a word for God found in some of=20
the other cities, and Quetzal chooses to use it. Maybe even found in the=20
Chrasmological Writings, since they were cobbled from all over the place.=20
No need to think Quetzal had to have been on Urth to pick up this word.
         As for how Quetzal got on Starcrosser, we are TOLD that Neighbors=20
seeded the ship with inhumi. Lacking any other indication, surely that's=20
what we are to understand about how Quetzal got there. How he rose to such=20
preeminence in the "church" is another question, and has been discussed=20
here. (Hey, a very thin, wizened "man," an "ascetic," might be just the=20
kind of "man" to catch the eye of "church" superiors and be promoted=20
rapidly. Add to this Quetzal's cunning, and the clearly corrupt nature of=20
the "church," and you have all you need to imagine a rapid rise to eminence=
.)
         Wolfe says that if a gun appears in the first act, it has to be=20
fired later on. Clearly the reverse is also true. If Quetzal was on=20
Starcrosser from the beginning, then there is going to be something to=20
indicate this. Nothing proffered thus far fits the bill.

Nutria


--=20

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