Severian's skin color

James Wynn · 23 Jun 2005, 09:09 · from 2005-June.txt.gz

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From: thewynns at earthlink.net (James Wynn)
Date: Thu Jun 23 09:09:37 2005
Subject: (urth) Severian's skin color
Message-ID: <26729413.1119542917310.JavaMail.root at wamui-sweet.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

>Well, I don't have much to say for or against the clone theory, but to me it 
>always seemed a little beside the point. The DNA Silk had in his meatybits 
>is only of peripheral interest (at least to me), and the only problem I have 
>with the clone theories is that they tend to make that aspect central to 
>their interpretation.

Thematically, I consider it very important.  Tussah=Typhon means that
Tussah;s and Pas's murder that happened at about the same are
connected so far as the story goes. Much has been made of Pas's
possible intentions for Silk. It shows that Pas' original plan did not
include Silk. Silk came later, after things went awry. If Silk is genetically
Horn's son, then the fact that the Rajan is simultaneously Silk, Horn, and
Horn the Neighbor builds on the theme of rationalizing the Holy Trinity
which Wolfe takes at many levels in The Short Sun. 

Basically, knowing Silk is Typhon's son, is as useful as knowing that Krait
is Horn's son. Hmm..no one ever asks if any of the other Inhumi bear the
souls of named characters in the story. Don't you think they would
gravitate toward the same roles their originals had in one way or another
if possible?

>>Well, I consider it self-evident that Typhon's scan occurred after he got 
>>his new body, since Pas has two heads.

>True, and I find this to be dead-on convincing personally. But at the same 
>time it seems almost impossible to maintain continuity either way, because 
>there's a pretty strong case going the other way. I hate to suggest it but 
>perhaps this is just the product of an error on Wolfe's part.

Gasp! heh heh
Actually, I agree that shoehorning the launching of the Whorl into the
apparently brief period between Piaton getting his new head and the
first death of Typhon is a tight squeeze. But I think it can be done. And so
far, I'm still inclined to my stated opinion on this. But I would love to be
convinced otherwise.

>But it would make a difference, regardless of whether Pas was there, if we 
>were to believe that Silk had knowledge of Severian. At that point in the 
>story, if I recall correctly, Silkhorn was no longer narrating. Was there 
>any point where he and Severian were "off camera" and could have had a 
>conversation the narrator wasn't privy to?

Well, even if Typhon's scan occurred after his meeting with the Concilliator,
*and* that the Rajan carried the memory of that meeting, there is no
guarantee that the Rajan would associate a boy he encounted
with the somewhat older haggard prophet he encountered on before
the launch.

On the other hand, if that boy was the image of Typhon's own son...well,
perhaps there would be something there.

~ Crush

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