2 quoted lines
Jon Camfield wrote:
"...I played again with pebbles in the courtyard beside the fallen curtain wall, as Thecla dodged the hooves of my father's mounted guard" (II, XXV, 204)
I do find it hard to escape the implication that Severian's real father is intended, and that somehow Severian and Thecla combined have worked out who he is --- what else could it mean? No dream or daydream in the Book is that alone, just as nothing real fails to have the faint aura of a dream. I'm not convinced it makes sense that they know, but maybe a strong likeness with a bit of subconscious deduction is intended.
Free Live Free:
I didn't really like this. Part of the problem is Wolfe's post-New-Sun style, which for my taste contains too much flabby and unenlightening dialogue over trifles (all right, so at least it's realistic :-)). To go with the offbeat story, I was expecting more sense that something deeper was going on, but didn't get it.
On the whole I quite liked the ending even if I didn't quite understand how it all tied in. The fantasy element seemed unconnected with the rest of the novel, though that's not so uncommon in modern fiction (John Fowles' `A Maggot' seems to have something similar going on). Maybe it's all down to Wolfe's wish to write a particular sort of not-quite-mainstream novel.
Corncrake
Peter Stephenson <pws at ifh.de> Tel: +39 50 844536
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