The eyes of a clone

thalassocrat at nym.hush.com · 31 Jul 2005, 21:15 · from 2005-July.txt.gz

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From: thalassocrat at nym.hush.com (thalassocrat at nym.hush.com)
Date: Sun Jul 31 21:15:03 2005
Subject: (urth) The eyes of a clone
Message-ID: <200508010415.j714F0tL014476 at mailserver2.hushmail.com>



On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 19:44:41 -0700 mournings glory 
<mourningsglory at hotmail.com> wrote:
>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.

Well, I don't think he's actually "foresworn bathing of any kind". 
In winter it's hard for a servant boy of the proto-torturers to 
wash. I doubt that he'll still be known as "Reechy" once he becomes 
the first Autarch. 

The rose & fountain are symbols of renewal, which on this story of 
course would have come to Ymar from Sev's brief mission in the 
proto-Matachin Tower.

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