Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!

Ethan A Merritt · 22 Sep 1995, 16:37 · from sf-lovers.1995.mbox

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From: merritt at u.washington.edu (Ethan A Merritt)
Subject: Re: Wolfe's "New Sun": Severian Unmasked!
Date: 22 Sep 1995 16:37:23 GMT
Message-ID: <sflovers-v20-370-2 at digest.sf-lovers>
X-Digest-Issue: SF-LOVERS Digest V20 #370
X-Urthmirror-Source: https://archive.org/details/sf-lovers-digest-vol-20b

manderse at nmsu.edu (Mark Andersen) writes:
>Who do you believe was Severian's mother? I read a good argument once
>(can't remember where offhand) to the effect that his mother was the
>Autarch. (The Autarch Severian succeeded on the throne is the only Autarch
>mentioned in the story with neither name nor epithet. The Autarch refers
>to Severian as "My son". One could argue that the Autarch androgyny may
>just as well have come about through being deprived of femininity, as
>through being deprived of masculinity.)

I'll keep that in mind next time I read the New Sun and see if I come
across any evidence one way or the other.  The only thing that comes to
mind is the resulting irony.  Remember that Severian is told in _Urth_ that
the reason the autarch's are neutered is to prevent the establishment of a
dynasty, so if Severian is nevertheless the offspring of the previous
autarch...

Ethan A Merritt

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