Malrubius/silk

maa32 · 18 Jul 2003, 16:16 · from urth-v0307.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) Malrubius/silk
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2003 09:16:34 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0307-3691 at digest.urth.net>
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My problem with regarding Malrubius' eidolon as Silk throughout BotNS is th=
e=20
explicit rationale for Malrubius and his presence with Triskele.  Does=20
Malrubius' advice seem like something that Silk would spout?  Silk is a bit=20
more of a preacher type with a devout message ... and that would mean that =
the=20
hierodules who maintain the image of Malrubius would have to be discounted =
or=20
labeled as "vanished people", which they aren't.  The way that Wolfe=20
seamlessly integrated a rationale for the absence of the guard at the gate =
in=20
the opening scenes of Shadow of the Torturer leads me to believe that anyth=
ing=20
he threw in wouldn't destroy the continuity like having Silk be malrubius'=20
ghost (and the only Malrubius ghost that Severian would meet).

Unless one wants to rationalize the close kinship of Triskele with Malrubiu=
s=20
in TBotNS by stating that Silk met and hung out with Triskele in RttW, so t=
hat=20
would explain how Malrubius becomes an intimate acquiantance with the dog i=
f,=20
indeed, he was Silk instead of Malrubius.  That scheme would require some=20
severe retrofitting:

a)vanished people must be hierodules
b)Silk's astral voyages must be considered eidolon-like
c) all of the commentary about Severian's youth or his experiences that=20
Malrubius relates in TBOTNS must be considered lies or "altered"
d)  Malrubius' explanation at end of Citadel of the Autarch of what an eido=
lon=20
is cannot be strictly factual, if he is actually alive somewhen else, being=20
maintained in that universe by an artifact of the vanished people/hierodules
e)Severian must have a reason for substituting a new character for a master=20
from his past, because he has no qualms about travelers like The Green Man =
and=20
Master Ash, and identifying them by their "real identities".  If anything,=20
Silk is more believable than them.

I don't think it works, really.

Marc Aramini

--=20

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