The eyes of a clone

mournings glory · 31 Jul 2005, 19:44 · from 2005-July.txt.gz

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From: mourningsglory at hotmail.com (mournings glory)
Date: Sun Jul 31 19:44:45 2005
Subject: (urth) The eyes of a clone
In-Reply-To: <20050731095626.4E48C33C55 at mailserver5.hushmail.com>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F264F2F43E8EE5BA2309D08D8C30 at phx.gbl>

Master-of-the-sea writes:

>On a little tangent, I think Sev's childhood play-tomb must be
>Ymar's. It's surely the tomb of someone who went off in a ship and
>returned. If we are to believe (as we are told) that Sev's
>predecessor was the first Autarch since Ymar to make the journey,
>then whose else could it really be? At the end of New Sun, we are
>left with the suggestion that it was Sev's own tomb, somehow or
>other; I think it must have been both Sev's and Ymar's - again,
>somehow or other.

But not only is there a ship on the door, there's a rose and a fountain--and 
if ever two symbols clashed with what we know of Ymar, it's these. Remember 
his nickname? As we learn in _Urth_ it's Reechy, because as the future first 
autarch tells Severian (and grinning no less, as if he's proud of the fact), 
"It's because I stink." (p 268). So please tell me how a symbol connected 
with water, cleanliness and purity, as well as a flower known for its lovely 
smell, comes to be associated with someone who, because he's foresworn 
bathing of any kind, is anything but roselike.

(I do, however, note that if you rearrange the letters in Ymar you get 
-Mary, as in Rosemary, the Wolfe-man's bride of some 49 years.<gr>)

msg

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