Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 15:07:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Jerry Friedman 
Subject: Re: (urth) Re: The irrigation of Lune


--- Steve Strickland  wrote:
> Is the scene with Rudesind, the only one in BOTNS in which the
> irrigation of
> Lune is discussed?
> 
> I'd always assumed--I'll admit without much thought on the subject--
> that
> the discussion of the "irrigation of Lune" in the early part of TSOTT
> was
> sort of an oblique reference to the sun's weakening.

Good heavens, people keep coming up with things I never would have
imagined!  I may be too trusting to read Wolfe.

> Since the light of the
> moon is a reflection of the sun's light, the pale green light of the
> moon
> would have given way, I suppose, to a darker green, as the sun began to
> weaken.

I don't think moonlight is green, or not in any sense that would make it
darker green if the sun were dimmer.  The rocks are pretty much light
rock-colored, I believe.

Anyway, if we assume the forests are real, I think there's a good question
of how green it would look in the light of Old Sun (reminds me of Leigh
Brackett).  Of course, Severian is used to seeing things by red light, but
Horn and Hoof are not.

> This historical fact, that over time the moon changed from pale
> green to darker green, became, in the folklore of a civilization whose
> science was declining, the afforestation of the moon, which of course
> would
> require water to make it work.
> 
> This also seems to me to be consistent with Mr. Wolfe's interest in
> folklore
> as being derivative of some truth or half-truth (in this case, that the
> moon
> had darkened required explanation).
> 
> Of course, it is also possible that through some advanced technology the
> moon had actually been made into a forest.  Are there other references
> in
> TBOTNS to the irrigation of Lune, or its forests, that might shed more
> light
> on whether this is merely a matter of folklore arising from the
> weakening
> sun, vs. a fact of science?
...

Severian refers once or twice to "the forests of Lune", if I remember
correctly, but that only tells us that he believes in them.

Jerry Friedman

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