Subject: (urth) Fechin (Redux)

From: Robert Borski <rborski at coredcs.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 22:05:35 +0000

One of the things I screwed up in my Fechin post was the identity of little
Sev's grandpa. I called him Becan's father, but Sev identifies him as
Casdoe's father. She also states she was born in Thrax, while it seems (and
may be stated or implied somewhere) that Rudesind was a native of Nessus.
This proves nothing, of course--all three principles could have lived in
Nessus or Thrax earlier, only to light out for other destinations later.

But look at the timeframe of each teller's attempt to link to Fechin. When
Casdoe's father (who Sev remarks is Rudesind's age) tells his story, he and
Fechin are contemporaries, both adolescent boys. When Rudesind tells his
story, however,  it appears Fechin's already an artist of some repute and
Rudesind is a child. Says he: "An artist--a real one--came by where we
lived. My mother, being so proud of me, showed him some of the things I'd
done. It was Fechin."

Clearly, there's a discrepancy here--not that the personal testimony of
elderly men might not be a little addlepated (hell, you should hear me
reminisce). But it's exactly these sorts of mismatched details that led me
to pose my original Fechin post, especially in light of how everybody in
Nessus is soon claiming to have had face time with Severian the Great.

Robert Borski  

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