I must speak about the Jolenta "rape" - becuase I don't think it really is one. She went on the boat with him, teasing and playing and falling asleep. She's just being coy. I will gladly call Seawrack and Io rapes, and the girl in Book of the Short Sun (Mora?). But Jolenta ... she wanted it bad from everybody on Urth. Dorcas, Talos, Baldanders, Hethor, the Cummean, the scarred boy in the hut, the bull Severian gets her to ride on, everybody except poor stupid Jonas.
Who falls asleep on a boat with Severian? Come on. In any case, I was going to say that from the first time that I read that scene in like the fifth grade, it invoked the worst mental image ever. Everytime I think of the term "unhatched chick" or "newborn chick" my eyes tear up. It's awful. That truly scarred me for life. I have no idea how a female's genitals can be called that. Its the weirdest simile ever. I have nightmares about it. Anybody else similarly affected by it? These are the kind of odd things that completely ruin your curiousity about sex growing up. Chicken breaking out of egg and gobbling up worms from mother's mouth- how revolting!
I can safely say that Jolenta is the one character in Wolfe I absolutely hate.
None of the other women came even close to deserving their fate - she should have been Mistress Slops.
Onward to the abnormal psychology induced from strange sex scenes - thank goodness I never read Heinlein as a child. Spung?! L. Ron Hubbard was more than bad enough for my whole life.
Marc Aramini