Were Jolenta and Dorcas lovers?

Brent Dyer · 31 Oct 2006, 03:48 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: brentdyer at sbcglobal.net (Brent Dyer)
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 19:48:03 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (urth) Were Jolenta and Dorcas lovers?
Message-ID: <20061031034803.93006.qmail at web81411.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I thought of that too, but I have a hard time accepting it as an explanation.  Wolfe seems to go out of his way to allude to lesbianism (like when Severian and Cyriaca are cleaning up after their encounter and are joined at the fountain by a pair of women).  If Jolenta and Dorcas were actually lovers, why would Wolfe not even hint at until well after Severian had left them both behind?  It seems more likely to me that Severian's sudden "unmasking" of the women's physical relationship his way of explaning something else that he doesn't understand or can't accept.

----- Original Message ----
From: David DiGiacomo <david at slack.com>
To: urth at lists.urth.net
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 9:42:06 PM
Subject: Re: (urth) Were Jolenta and Dorcas lovers?

I like your theories!  Another one is that this passage is telling us that
Talos's surgical skill made Jolenta irresistably attractive to everyone,
even Severian's dead grandmother.

Or, Severian may just be trying to convince us of that, to justify his rape
(?) of Jolenta.

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