The Blue Urth Theory

ArchD'Ikon Zibethicus · 22 Dec 2002, 09:33 · from urth-v0212.mbox · original

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From: "ArchD'Ikon Zibethicus" <zibethicus at hotmail.com>
Subject: (urth) The Blue Urth Theory
Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 09:33:39 +0000
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Quoth Mr. Lackey:

>Be that as it may, the mass of textual evidence against Blue
>being Urth/Ushas overwhelms the theory that it is.

Well, I myself am an adherent of _neither_ theory.  I have an open mind, an=
d=20
am open to discussion.  Dogmatism troubles me in excessive quantities,=20
tho'...and I _have_ called for greater use of textual elements in=20
discussion, so I'm glad that you _did_ use texts.

>Proponents of the Blue=3DUrth/Ushas theory have also claimed that the
>Neighbors were far-future descendents of the people who repopulated Urth=20
>after it became Ushas.

I suggested this as a _possibility_ for the purposes of accounting for all=20
the plot elements in a way satisfactory to the Blue Urth Theory.

>Where the Green Man fits into that evolution, I don't know.

Well, to be fair to Blue Urth Theorists, I have just gone over COC (BTW - i=
s=20
there a list of standard abbrevations?) Ch. III, 'The Showman's Tent', and=20
have been unable to find a statement from the Green Man to the effect that=20
he actually comes from Urth.  What he _does_ say is: "I am a free man, come=20
from your own future to explore your age." (p. 27, Arrow p/back.) He also=20
says that his sun is much brighter, but that he has no idea whether it is=20
the New Sun or not...  If I was desperately trying to defend the Blue Urth=20
Theory, I could observe that this increase of brightness could be=20
attributable to an origin on an entirely different world with a different,=20
brighter sun, rather than the New Sun.  We know now that Typhon sent=20
colonisers out on the Whorl; is there any statement anywhere that the Whorl=20
was the _only_ ship sent out?  What about other states and empires in the=20
whole, vast history of Urth?  Why couldn't the Ascians have forced their ow=
n=20
surplus population into space?

And, in any case, does the Green Man ever stipulate exactly _where_ in the=20
future he does come from?  And, if not, why couldn't he come from Urth or=20
Blue (if the two are different) or wherever, in a period _after_ the time o=
f=20
HornSilk?

>"I've been thinking about it, and about the City of the Inhumi on Green.=20
>Those were ruins left by the Neighbors' ancient race; these were left by=20
>ours, I believe--we are as ancient as they, or nearly." > (IGJ, 315)

I don't quite understand how this quote can be used to make a case that "At=20
any rate, the text contradicts the theory that the Neighbors were some=20
future evolutionary stage of humanity on Blushas."

I am not at all convinced that "the Neighbors were some future evolutionary=20
stage of humanity on Blushas", myself, but I fail to see how that text can=20
be used as evidence against the Theory, if only because this is only the=20
conjecture of HornSilkIncanto (HSI).  HSI may not be in full possession of=20
the facts, as are many of the characters in Mr. Wolfe's divers works,=20
including Severian himself.

As I said in an earlier posting, I believe that Mr. Wolfe places all the=20
necessary elements to an adequate comprehension of his work within the work=20
itself, but I don't believe that the conjecture of a character within the=20
work is necessarily adequate evidence in its own right, as his all-too-huma=
n=20
characters are often mistaken or hasty in drawing conclusions, as are we=20
all...

I find it more evidential that the Neighbours themselves told Horn (OBW Ch.=20
11, 'The Land of Fires' p.271) "From this whorl we sprang...[t]here are=20
rocks and rivers, trees and islands here that have been famous among us for=20
many thousands of years."  Now if we can only agree on exactly _where_ it=20
was that these words were spoken (if they were)...

->Zx<-

<snip the sig!>

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