Severian's family tree

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 25 Aug 2006, 19:24 · from 2006-August.txt.gz

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From: danldo at gmail.com (Dan'l Danehy-Oakes)
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:24:43 -0700
Subject: (urth) Severian's family tree
In-Reply-To: <1156529289.773.269429114 at webmail.messagingengine.com>
References: <001a01c6c7ff$828ceee0$533ec6d8 at rclackey.stic.net>
	<1f7617370608250938y753934dame0703e641eb95bc4 at mail.gmail.com>
	<1156529289.773.269429114 at webmail.messagingengine.com>
Message-ID: <1f7617370608251224s658c79cck5afd1874d90872c5 at mail.gmail.com>

On 8/25/06, Rex Lycanthrosaurus <lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:38:09 -0700, "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes"
> <danldo at gmail.com> said:
> > >
> > > >Why do people keep referring to Severian's immediate predecessor
> > > >as Appian? Is there some reference I've missed? I thought Appian was
> > > >rather further back in the history of the Commonwealth, and that  Sev's
> > > >predecessor was (deliberately?) left unnamed.
> > >
> > > Appian isn't mentioned by name in NEW SUN. The name is used in the related
> > > short story "The Cat", in ENDANGERED SPECIES. (p.-215, paperback)
> >
> > That story establishes, if I'm not mistaken, the following:
> >
> > 1. Odilo the Steward tells the story in the fifth year of Severian's
> > reign.
> > 2. Odilo is not a young man (he has known Inire for "many years").
> > 3. Odilo's father Odilo served the Autarch Appian.
> >
> > This implies to me that Appian reigned sometime within the past
> > sixty or seventy years. He thus _might_ have been Severian's
> > immediate predecessor, but against this I set Severian's mentions
> > of Appian in _New Sun_ proper; Severian never says anything that
> > can absolutely date Appian, but he speaks of him as in the past
> > tense, as one speaks of an honored monarch of the past.
>
> The old autarch was honey steward before his elevation to the Phoenix
> Throne. ("Paeon, who trained me, who was honey-steward fifty years gone
> by.")
>
> The Latin word for bee is "apis."
>
> The dots seem connectable.
>
> And while ostensibly a similar case could be made for at least one other
> saintly exemplar (Melito), when Severian, after being rescued on the
> battlefield of Orithyia by the mammoth-riding androgyne, sees "a man
> with the horns and muzzled face of a bull," this may be (as Borski
> notes) an attempt by Wolfe to further link the old autarch with the
> Egyptian ox-god, Apis.
>
>
> --
>   Rex Lycanthrosaurus
>   lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm
>
> --
> http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service
>
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
"Shovels are essential to the fantasy genre.
However, they are primarily used by the authors rather than the
characters." -- Stephen R. Donaldson

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