Severian's family tree

b sharp · 24 Aug 2006, 11:18 · from 2006-August.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:18:21 -0400
Subject: (urth) Severian's family tree
Message-ID: <BAY103-F190D53AF69FFD616B010FD7440 at phx.gbl>

Daniel D. Jones asks:

>but what's the reason for assuming that Thecla takes  over mid sentence?  
>Why can't the entire >sentence be read as Thecla's memory:  "I [Thecla] 
>played again with pebbles in the courtyard >beside the fallen curtain wall, 
>as Thecla dodged the hooves of my father's mounted guard."

The reason is, in the beginning of Shadow, Severian says his earliest memory 
is of stacking pebbles by the curtain wall.  Fallen curtain wall definitely 
suggests the crumbling Citadel.  So adding Thecla definitely added something 
to Severian's memory. But was it Thecla's memory or a memory of Thecla?

Thecla taking over in midsentence seems to be the majority view of those 
weighing in but it still seems wrong to me.  That breaks the established 
structure of the paragraph.  Also, why is the the word "Thecla" used?  Why 
wouldn't it be:

...I played again with pebbles, I dodged the hooves....

Regarding this passage in Urth- "and of my childhoods in the Citadel, at my 
father's villa, and in the village called Famulorum near the House 
Absolute."

Roy says:

I  read it this way: "Childhoods" refers to the set of memories Severian 
retains. They are, respectively, his own in the Citadel, Thecla's at the 
villa, and Appian's in the village.

Don says:

>Even if b sharp is correct in his interpretation, Ymar is a more likely  
>candidate for the shared >memory  than Thecla, as his childhood is  
>definitively established in the citadel.

I have to agree with both Roy and Don, which definitely takes a large bite 
out of the theory that Thecla had a childhood in the Citadel, leaving only 
the passage above from Claw, which only I interpret that way.

It does add a little to my vague idea that the "first" Severian might not 
have been a version of himself in another iteration of Urth but instead, 
Ymar.  I think Dan'l once hinted that he considers the possibility that Ymar 
was an ancestor to Severian.

Which brings to mind the important question of why Wolfe chooses to both 
start and end BotNS with Severian mentioning his lifelong presentiment of 
his future.  Is it because the memories of a previous iteration echo through 
time?  Is it because Severian was/will be a time traveller?  Is it because 
when Severian was born, his white fountain star (which is an aspect of 
himself, related to Bethlehem's star?) was already in existence and hurtling 
toward Urth?

-bsharp

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