Severian's skin color

Seth Lombardi · 17 Jun 2005, 16:09 · from 2005-June.txt.gz

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From: sethlombardi at hotmail.com (Seth Lombardi)
Date: Fri Jun 17 16:09:15 2005
Subject: (urth) Severian's skin color
In-Reply-To: <1f7617370506162013140667ef at mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <BAY7-F3275BD506EAAA38D566196D7F40 at phx.gbl>

>This is a clear case of artists assuming that the generic SFF hero
>is white no matter what the writer says.
>
>Somewhere in there Wolfe (or Severian) makes a comment to
>the effect that each of the continents has a characteristic
>physical "type," and that peoples who live on a continent long
>enough will tend towards that "type." (Something like a hundred
>generations?) Since the Commonwealth (a) is on - roughly -
>the South American continent, and (b) has been there a long
>time, we can reasonably conclude that its citizens resemble
>contemporary native South Americans.
>
>--Dan'l

But much of South America is peopled by people who do not necessarily 
resemble "native" South Americans.

Assuming Severian's theory be true, then we also have to assume that the 
people who happen to live there have lived there in isolation without 
invasion or other ethnic turmoil for a hundred generations, and also that 
there have been no significant changes in diet or environment on that 
continent between now and TBOTNS. We already know that the sun has dimmed 
significantly. It is also harped on that Severain is tall and may or may not 
have some exultant blood in him, and it's not even clear if exultants are 
natives of Urth, much less what was once called South America. So, while I 
think it may be reasonable to assume that Sevarian may be tale, pale and 
sunken-cheeked only by the standards of his community and not that of 
contemporary Europeans, I think it's a bigger stretch to assert one way or 
another that he or the people of Nessus look like contemporary native South 
Americans, or any other ethnic group we can imagine.

seth

*****************************
Seth Lombardi
sethlombardi at hotmail.com
http://sethlombardi.blogspot.com/
AIM: melombardi
"Two faces are alike; neither is funny by itself, but side by side their 
likeness makes us laugh" -Pascal

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