Sev's silence about Catherine‏

b sharp · 25 Jun 2008, 14:34 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:34:47 -0400
Subject: (urth) =?windows-1256?q?Sev=27s_silence_about_Catherine=FE?=
Message-ID: <BAY103-W49DC3BE964B559CC7E2261D7A00 at phx.gbl>

Dave Tallman, earlier I missed your post in this thread which discussed Catherine 
and Valeria, but I'll comment now:

I think Borski came up with some brilliant observations and analyses, but also some 
spectacular misses. This is an example. It seems a bit loony to contort and distort the 
story and time and everything else to make Valeria the mother of Catherine when a 
much simpler answer presents itself.  I think part of Borksi's problem is a blind spot 
created by his guess that kaibits are a red herring and don't exist at all.

Valeria lives in a tower off the Atrium of Time and it is clearly a time portal like Master
Ash's Last House. Severian can't find the tower when flying around the citadel because
 the top of the tower exists in the future.  But Valeria and her family (conspicuously absent; 
all we see is her maid) live in the lower levels of the tower, thus they live in Severian's
past.  Catherine's name is notable described as "old fashioned" and the same is said 
about Valeria's clothes and could be said about her name. It is far simpler and more 
explanatory to think that Catherine is mother to Valeria.

But we have the corpse with dark hair, livid face and a pale gown, perhaps choked to death as
Severian thinks his mother might have been (side note, Severian sees the corpse's face
reflected in the face of Ultan- what can THAT mean?).  Perhaps the corpse is Catherine's 
clone who escaped to the future at the top of the tower but was brought back to be executed.
(or the reverse, perhaps the clone plays St. Katharine; does it matter?)  Could Valeria be 
a younger clone? Surely Barbea and Gracia are clones but perhaps Severian prefers the
other clone connection of Catherine and Valeria as you suggest. It could mean the Thea-Thecla
connection but I think it very much fits the  tone of this story for Wolfe to ask us whether
it is incest if you marry a clone of your mother. Less compelling if Valeria is a normal daughter
and thus just a half-sister to Severian.

Another possibly related clue:  Before the Thecla alzabo feast, one of Vodalus' followers 
mentions hoping this one isn't a tribade (lesbian) again.  I can't imagine this to be a 
pointless throwaway line. So what could it mean? It seems to me the last alzabo meal
mentioned to us was the corpse in the pale gown.  I think various speculations could be
made if we learn that Catherine (and/or her clone) was a lesbian.

-bsharp

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