Re: The Outermost Circle
Posted by:
Sawfish (IP Logged)
Date: 31 March, 2021 12:52PM
Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> Hello.
>
> Does anybody know what Smith means by "the
> outermost circle" in his short story "The Treader
> In The Dust?" I think is it could mean the
> "boundaries of our universe" but I am not sure.
>
> …The olden wizards knew him, and named him
> Quachil Uttaus. Seldom is he revealed: for he
> dwelleth beyond the outermost circle, in the dark
> limbo of unsphered time and space.-Dreadful is the
> word that calleth him, though the word be unspoken
> save in thought: For Quachil Uttaus is the
> ultimate corruption; and the instant of his coming
> is like the passage of many ages; and neither
> flesh nor stone may abide his treading, but all
> things crumble beneath-it atom from atom. And for
> this, some have called him The Treader of the
> Dust.
That's a hell of a cosmic description (like "...The Ayatollah of Rock-and-Rolla!"), isn't it? Very effective in attempting to convey the paradoxical nature of this being's existence.
Kinda interesting, too, that such an entity has a gender identification; that, in itself, is disorienting. I mean, my most rational conception would be that Quachil Uttaus is an "it", not a "he" or a "she".
Let's see...
"...the instant of his coming
> is like the passage of many ages; and neither
> flesh nor stone may abide his treading, but all
> things crumble beneath-it atom from atom."
So he's all about Time, looks like, and we might infer that the universe(s) he inhabits are governed by very different temporal laws.
So, yeah, I'd surmise that CAS meant that he was from beyond the physical universe, as we know it--beyond the outermost circle of human comprehension.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 31 Mar 21 | 01:08PM by Sawfish.