Sev's silence about Catherine

b sharp · 26 Jun 2008, 12:54 · from 2008-June.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:54:40 -0400
Subject: (urth) Sev's silence about Catherine
Message-ID: <BAY103-W32575C4C89B525D0E1A025D7A30 at phx.gbl>

Jeff Wilson writes:
>A clean sword stroke limits the trauma to a relatively thin layer of 
>some millions of cells and connective tissue, perhaps some fracturing 
>would spread through the one or two intersected vertebra. Zama, on the 
>other hand, has trillions of cells' contents turned to mush from abject 
>lack of perfusion.

Now Zama had already been reanimated, in zombie form, by Ceryx when
Severian worked his magic. So zombies move around without cellular function?
Zama is pale and when Burgundofora stabs him, his wound doesn't gush blood, just
some seepage, indicating blood isn't being pumped? So you might have something
here: zombies like Zama locomote and act using an external power source.
Severian restores independent cellular function.

Roy C. Lackey asks:

>So, for Severian's entire life up to he time he left for Yesod, his mama,
>Catherine, was living in the cellar of one of the towers occupied by
>Valeria's family, where Valeria had seen her daily? And Sev didn't know it?
>Valeria never mentioned her parents in the ten years they lived together?  
>Their daughter married the autarch and he never even met them?

My take on the title of this thread is that Severian does know some of his family
connections. But, as with Dorcas, he won't discuss them directly with us because 
they inevitably reveal incest. I don't know if we can believe him but Severian says 
he never again saw the maid after his elevation.

Roy continues: 
>If he did meet them, who did he see? Catherine? If he saw her, then she
>cannot have been the woman he didn't recognize on the Path of Air, or the
>maid who played the role of Holy Katharine, khaibit or original.

We know Severian, with his purportedly perfect memory, is constantly seeing
similarities among the people places and things in his life.  But as an unreliable 
narrator, we know he sometimes confuses people, directions (east and west) etc.
I think he is quite capable of seeing a person more than once and failing to recognize
them each time, instead just noting a resemblance.

and: 
>If Valeria is Sev's sister and Ouen is not her father, that father must be accounted for.

Borski provides a likely candidate for Severian's step-father. In addition to those 
characters described in "gold" adjectives he suggests all characters who show lameness
are  family members. There is a lame character who resides in the Citadel and who has 
the power and authority to find and capture a runaway wife, sequester her in a tower and 
send her adultery produced twin babies to the torturers and witches. That being the 
conspicuously unnamed Castellan. Severian tells us that, as for Catherine, he never sees
him again after their meeting. In (I think) Shadow, Severian mentions that the Castellan is
too high an official for him to ever have seen, as a torturer. Quite a bit of attention paid to 
this character, I think.

(of course if Valeria is a clone of Catherine we really don't need a father ;-))

-bsharp

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