Eyes of Thecla

mournings glory · 06 May 2006, 01:17 · from 2006-May.txt.gz

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From: mourningsglory at hotmail.com (mournings glory)
Date: Sat, 06 May 2006 01:17:45 +0000
Subject: (urth) Eyes of Thecla
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-F10A56E7338CA69666119D8D7B50 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <BAY107-F21ADD37783F97177D8FDD3D8AA0 at phx.gbl>

>From: "b sharp" <bsharporflat at hotmail.com>

>In Solar Labyrinth(and perhaps briefly in the Archives) Robert Borsky makes
>an elaborate argument that Appian is Thecla's father.  Most of the evidence
>he uses stems from clues that Appian was involved in her upbringing. There
>seems very little to suggest he has a genetic connection to her.

I came across what is either an interesting clue in this regard, a typo, or 
sloppy copy-editing, depending on your druthers.

In Chapter VI of _Shadow_ Severian is reading a note from Master Gurloes:

"'By the will of a court we have in our keeping the exulted person of the 
Chatelaine Thecla; and by its further will we would furnish to the 
Chatelaine Thecla in her confinement such comforts as lie not beyond reason 
and prudence. That she may while away the moments until her time with us is 
come - or rather, as she has instructed me to say, until the heart of the 
Autarch, whose forebearance knows not walls nor seas, is softened toward 
her, as she prays she asks that you, consonant with your office, provide her 
with certain books...'"

Now what is the oddest word in all of the above paragraph? It's 
"forebearance" with an -e, which relates to *ancestral* forebearers, not to 
"the action or habit of forbearing." In the other four books of the Urth 
cycle, Wolfe also always uses the e- version of 'forebears' to mean 
ancestors and the non-e version 'forbear' to mean, "to bear with, have 
patience with, put up with, tolerate."

So is this indeed a secret clue as to Thecla's paternity? Or simply a 
typo/copyediting mistake? (Speaking of which, has the Garsec/Garvaon mistake 
been corrected in the trade paperback edition of _Wizard Knight_? Sad to 
say, but the very nice SFBC edition of _Book of the Short Sun_, despite 
being printed on much higher quality paper, perpetuates all the typos of the 
original edition, which is surely the most error-ridden of any Wolfe book, 
primary or secondary.)

Also, if not a typo, however would such wordplay survive translation into 
another language?

Me sSe eg

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