Life on Mt. Typhon

Dan Parmenter · 23 Jun 1998, 09:30 · from urth-v0014.mbox · original

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From: Dan Parmenter <dan at lec.com>
Subject: (urth) Life on Mt. Typhon
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 09:30:55
Message-ID: <urth-v0014-0086 at digest.urth.net>
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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>

>As I read this (with the hindsight of URTH), Typhon recognizes Severian,
>and thinks Severian is playing coy with him.  I doubt Typhon suspects that
>the Conciliator he met was a future Severian.  Rather he might think
>Severian is some sort of descendant of the Conciliator, or that the
>Concilator is somehow very long-lived.  He thinks Severian is either
>pretending ignorance of the Concilator, or pretending not to remember
>Typhon.=20

Yes, yet another instance of Severian not quite getting the point (we
can forgive him - he's only meeting Typhon for the first time) but
still more or less doing the right thing.

As for what exactly Typhon makes of him, it's entirely unclear.
Perhaps it took an act of supreme will for Typhon not to say "ack!
You again!" when first seeing Severian.  And of course the Conciliator
Severain, at the point of his second meeting with Typhon is in
considerably better shape than the first time.

So much mystery and intrigue within the Typhon sequence - was it
Severian who awakened Typhon?  Why does Typhon call himself Autarch
when in fact he is the final Monarch?

D

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