Robert Borski said:
<I'm also wondering, in light of the above, if anyone can link the two (Valeria, Azure) to the passage in CITADEL where Severian, recalling the first time he met the old autarch, mentions the House Azure, and then parenthetically adds, "whose odd name I was now, perhaps, beginning to grasp."
I don't think Valeria has to do with the name of the House Azure, and the significance of the name lies in almost the last line of the BotNS proper, where Severian says he has brought us to the final gate, the sky. The sky is azure, and it is at the House Azure that certain key portions of his journey towards Yesod and the heliogenesis of the New Sun take place (i.e., the Autarch fingering the phallic vial).
Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html
------------------------------------------------