Two Modes of Multiverse: Paratime vs. Dark World > Likes and Comments
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Thanks, Michael. Plenty of food for thought, as usual! The sheer ambiguity of what can be done in the universe of TBotNS and the mysteriousness of how what can be done is achieved is an essential part of the reader's experience. It allows the reader to experience something of the puzzlement of being an Urthling, a citizen of an impoverished backwoods planet in a universe where all the other races are much richer, smarter and more sophisticated. Perhaps Father Inire is a missionary to Urth, and therefore naturally drawn to including missionaries from other ages in the Botanical Gardens.,,
Yes, and here is another recent thought I had about the gardens: their very name implies it is about the plants, but one gets the sense that it is actually more about human themes in different places/different times. So the jungle garden is about missionaries; whereas the sand garden, with no people, is more a direct experience of reverence (at least for Severian). That is, the collection is more like a Museum of Natural History, where visitors can step into the display and mingle with the "natives" in the contained diorama. I use scare quotes because there is a further sense that some or all of the people within the displays are possibly former denizens of Nessus who have been "chant caught," becoming flies in amber, molded by the diorama.
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Nigel
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Mar 13, 2024 09:54AM
Thanks, Michael. Plenty of food for thought, as usual! The sheer ambiguity of what can be done in the universe of TBotNS and the mysteriousness of how what can be done is achieved is an essential part of the reader's experience. It allows the reader to experience something of the puzzlement of being an Urthling, a citizen of an impoverished backwoods planet in a universe where all the other races are much richer, smarter and more sophisticated. Perhaps Father Inire is a missionary to Urth, and therefore naturally drawn to including missionaries from other ages in the Botanical Gardens.,,
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Yes, and here is another recent thought I had about the gardens: their very name implies it is about the plants, but one gets the sense that it is actually more about human themes in different places/different times. So the jungle garden is about missionaries; whereas the sand garden, with no people, is more a direct experience of reverence (at least for Severian). That is, the collection is more like a Museum of Natural History, where visitors can step into the display and mingle with the "natives" in the contained diorama. I use scare quotes because there is a further sense that some or all of the people within the displays are possibly former denizens of Nessus who have been "chant caught," becoming flies in amber, molded by the diorama.
