Thy Fearful Symmetry

Mantis' letter of Dec 21 re twins caused me to dig the following out of my "drafts" folder in which it had been languishing while I either awaited the proper time for it, inspiration to add to it, or simply forgot it: There is one Wolfeanism which runs within most of his work and even across works; this evident fascination with twins and symmetries and mirror images and counterparts. I have never seen anyone take notice of or comment upon this phenomenon directly. Has anyone ever analyzed that motif [until Mantis' letter] and come to any conclusions about it? Consider: there is the Island of Doctor Death and the Death of Doctor Island and the Death of the Island Doctor, and so on. There is the Dead Man, and the Other Dead Man also. There is Severian, the adventurer of the far future who remembers everything. He finds his counterpart in Latro, the adventurer of the distant past who forgets everything. Severian's world, as presented to us, is full of obscure Greek words. Place names in Latro's world are translated for us literally from the Greek. 5HC and Short Sun both feature twin planets. There are the twin brothers of "A Story", the clone-family of Cave Canem, and the murderous incestuous twins of "Shadow of the Torturer". Oh yes, and don't forget the twins of "Cherry Jubilee". There is of course the peculiar Father Inire and his fastination with mirrors and symmetry. We are told he claimed the Hypogeum Apotropaic because its bilateral symmetry appealed to him. We can almost picture Lastvoice teaching his new acolyte Eastwind, only lately recovered from his alteration to a starwalker: "All things have their counterpart. There is the Eye, thus there must be the Other Eye also." Talarican

And let's not forget "little Severian", struck down whilst trying to reach the golden ring upon the hand of Typhon's monument/mountain. ... tom -----Original Message----- From: Talarican [mailto:exultnttalarican at mindspring.com] Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 11:27 PM To: urth at lists1.ba.best.com Subject: (urth) Thy Fearful Symmetry Mantis' letter of Dec 21 re twins caused me to dig the following out of my "drafts" folder in which it had been languishing while I either awaited the proper time for it, inspiration to add to it, or simply forgot it: There is one Wolfeanism which runs within most of his work and even across works; this evident fascination with twins and symmetries and mirror images and counterparts. I have never seen anyone take notice of or comment upon this phenomenon directly. Has anyone ever analyzed that motif [until Mantis' letter] and come to any conclusions about it? Consider: there is the Island of Doctor Death and the Death of Doctor Island and the Death of the Island Doctor, and so on. There is the Dead Man, and the Other Dead Man also. There is Severian, the adventurer of the far future who remembers everything. He finds his counterpart in Latro, the adventurer of the distant past who forgets everything. Severian's world, as presented to us, is full of obscure Greek words. Place names in Latro's world are translated for us literally from the Greek. 5HC and Short Sun both feature twin planets. There are the twin brothers of "A Story", the clone-family of Cave Canem, and the murderous incestuous twins of "Shadow of the Torturer". Oh yes, and don't forget the twins of "Cherry Jubilee". There is of course the peculiar Father Inire and his fastination with mirrors and symmetry. We are told he claimed the Hypogeum Apotropaic because its bilateral symmetry appealed to him. We can almost picture Lastvoice teaching his new acolyte Eastwind, only lately recovered from his alteration to a starwalker: "All things have their counterpart. There is the Eye, thus there must be the Other Eye also." Talarican works