Subject: (whorl) time frames and paternity

From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at sirius.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2000 14:30:18 +0000

Ian Smith wrote:

>Second, the 'IGJ is set a the same point in time as TBOTNS because the
>citadel scene is the same night Sev meets Vodalus' poposition.

For me, this is a point built upon a pont.  That is: in TBOTLS it became
clear that the story was not happening 700 years pre-Severian's Reign (that
is, in Year Typhon +323), but instead at roughly the same time as
Severian's Reign (that is, Year Typhon +1000).

Now as to the finer point of "is the day Horn/Silk visits Urth =that= day,"
this is of course arguable on its own merits.  Will the fog rise up while
the guard is away?  Is it the right season?  It seems to be about the right
decade (post-Dorcas era), since the ruins extend as they do and the citadel
is north of them.

>Aren't the
>dream-transfers projections in time as well as space, on occasion?  This is
>very tentative, because I can't be bothered to pick it all apart from the
>text, but as I reckon it, the interval between Sinew defecting to the
>villagers on Green and the Dream projection to Sinew's village is around two
>and a half years.  If this is the case (and I'll sure you'll let me know in
>no uncertain terms if it isn't) then surely the projection to the village on
>Green must be into the future, otherwise how would it be possible for Sinew
>to have a three year old son by Bala?

This is an interesting point, but I had already made some decisions (which
may be revised, naturally) on my own.  With regard to teleportation, I tend
to assume it means "instantaneous" and so the timeframe is "simultaneous":
this was the approach with the teleportation from Yesod to Briah in URTH.

The teleportation used by Horn/Silk may involve time-travel, but it would
be different from that practiced by Severian if Horn/Silk can travel into
the future (Severian can't, not really).  If he =can= travel into the past,
then it becomes problematic as to why the Urth they visited wasn't the same
era that the sleeper had left.

By my count, Sinew has been on Green for at least two years when Horn/Silk
is writing IGJ: Horn has been away from Nettle for three years (IGJ 294);
the original quest, from Blue to Green to Whorl, seems to have taken a year
(I haven't really counted the months), and it was during the stay on Green
that Sinew went his own way; writing OBW took about a year.

Granting a few months leeway here and there (people talking in round years
rather than including fractions), it seems possible that Sinew could have a
three year old and a two year old. Or perhaps the three year old isn't
biologically Sinew's (or maybe neither child is: I don't recall any talk of
how they resemble Sinew/Horn/Hide, and Triv culture being the way it is,
well, paternity may be negated in the biological sense).

=mantis=

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