Time Structures on Urth

I posted this theory a few years in the past but, at Dan'l's request I'm trotting it out again now. It seems like an appropriate time. We get a very nice tour of the Last House and how it works. I think there are other, similar, structures to be found in BotNS. At the end of CotA, Severian is flying around the Citadel but unable to find Valeria's tower. He is only able to find it by retracing his steps through the catacombs to the Atrium of Time. This seems a parallel to when Severian tries to take a shortcut to Last House but can't find it until he follows the correct path. So I assume that the top of Valeria's tower, like the top of Last House, exists in Severian's future which is why he cannot find either. Valeria is said to be old fashioned and antiquely dressed. She lives in the lower levels of her tower. I deduce that her tower (and perhaps other towers around the Atrium of Time) is a time structure with lower levels in the past. From Severian's perspective, the Last House does not have any lower levels.

An interesting irony can be concluded regarding the time scale which is traversed. I have reason to think that Valeria's tower spans decades (explanation in another thread if requested), we know Last House spans millenia and it would seem the Jungle Hut traverses cosmologic time. So, the flimsier the structure the greater the span of time which is traversed. I think this theory supports the idea that Earth is in the Yesod universe because it demonstrates that Earth, like Yesod, is in the future of Urth. For so many years Urth was seen as the distant future of Earth. I thought the theory of Yesod being a Kabbalic balcony or second story to Briah and Urth was born back in the time when Earth and Urth were considered to be the same planet. But, from the recent posts, it appears that even when Urth is recognized as being a previous version of Earth, the view of Yesod as separate from the Briatic sequence of destructuion and creation remains for those who prefer it. That's cool. I still prefer viewing Yesod as the next higher universe in sequence with Briah and Earth as the next higher in sequence with Urth. It allows the Hierogrammates (or their cognate race) to evolve just as humanity can evolve and escape Yesod to a higher universe still; one step closer to the Increate. Tzadkiel seems to lament that he remains infinitely far away. I started a thread a while back called "Wolfe as Heretic". In one interview he observes that, with the episode in the Temple, Jesus knew what it was to be a torturer. I think we can all recognize that Jesus was more spiritually advanced than Severian. Is it heresy to suggest that the Christ-figure in the universe which is above Yesod would be more spiritually advanced than Jesus?

What happens if you jump out of the window of a tower in the Atrium of Time or the Last House? In the Botanic Gardens, the sand garden has a similar effect, but there is no structure. Finally, what did you make of Valeria's remark that they put the broken clock portal in the courtyard as a sort of "sign" for the Atrium of Time, where Severian assumed that the locale was named after the clock but had it wrong? ...ryan

Have you read The Sorcerer's House? ᚹ

Technically, that is inductive rather than deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning would require at least part of thee tower to be visible midway between the past and the future, if that were the case.

The jungle hut can't work the same way as the Last House, because the Last House's upper floors look out onto the future many chiliads later than the era the "ground floor" opens onto. Robert is seen looking down from the hut at the ground and clearly sees Severian and Agia approaching in real time, and freaks out. The airplane in the sky is anachronistic, but still fits in with the jungle hut as a whole since Marie mentions the landing strip is three days away by overland travel. There might be time travel involved on the part of the Botanic Gardens over all, but I see no evidence the hut itself is special.

Probably, but that's necesary. It may be that the there are many appearances of Christ there, for instance, like the Bradbury story "The Man" where the astronauts show up the week after His appearance on an alien planet. For that matter, there may have been a Jesus on Urth, but the human race someehow rejected His or even his message while keeping the trappings. This lets Robert and Marie be in Urth's past, along with the Sand Garden where the sojurn in the desert happened differently or not at all.

Another example which leaps to mind is The Wizard Knight's Tower of Glas. Seems like a recurring theme indeed; perhaps you're on to something, Lee!

Yes, absolutely; since ex hypothesi Jesus is God, there is no such thing as "more spiritually advanced."

Certainly. Did I miss the part where he jumps out? Or are you referring to the house growing rooms? ...ryan

Furthermore, the entire Botanic seems to work off the mirrors causing the time changes. Time is slower in some rooms, and faster in others, but the mirrors are always present, bending things in ways Severian can't understand. Botanic Gardens seem to relate to Sorcerer's House though, given the disproportionate sizes from inside and out. Anyone read Danielewski's "House of Leaves"? It does a similar thing, though there is a definite psychological parallel to the house's behavior, and the narrator's. ...ryan

Thanks Ryan Dunn and Jeff Wilson. Interesting considerations regarding the Jungle Hut and Robert's view and the Sand Garden. Will look into these issues! :- )

Baxter jumps out of a window and ends up in Faeri or the Spiritual World of Black, werewolves, and dream-traveling psychics. He has to crawl back into the window and walk back to the front door to return to our world. Incidentally, I see a parallel here to Castleview where Shields sees the castle from the attic window of the house. ᚹ

Aah, I thought he snuck out of the window not jumped, but either way, yes so the windows are basically portals to whatever the person inside sees outside, then. ...ryan