Sev's common lineage

b sharp · 01 Jul 2008, 12:42 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2008 08:42:39 -0400
Subject: (urth) Sev's common lineage
Message-ID: <BAY103-W98FD5081D12E8D8397455D79E0 at phx.gbl>

Roy, I not sure I understand the point of your previous post. Are you saying you see no 
connection between Severian's loggia scene and the Contessa's story in the play? If so 
that almost defies belief.  I would think even the most tunnel-visioned skeptic could see 
the similarities between those scenes.

Regarding this statement:
>Are there any characters in the Urth Cycle who *don't* have access to one of
>these increasingly ubiquitous and textually elusive time machines? Why on
>Urth would anyone have had any reason to preserve one of the Old Autarch's
>old whores by spiriting her away in time somewhere, so she can pop up on
>Ushas fifty years later?

I don't find them elusive and I think time "portal" is a more apt description than "machine".
Master Ash's house is the archetype; a labyrinthine entranceway to a vertical structure.  
Is there any quibble about its function? I see obvious copies of it in the Jungle Garden and 
Atrium of Time tower. I assume Thais or Catherine or any other character who seems out 
of place in time would have no trouble climbing stairs or a ladder without assistance.  
Moreover the suggestions of horizontal portals connecting the House Absolute to the Citadel 
and even to the Botanic Garden and House Azure suggest to me that many could have access
if they wandered to the right place (as Sev and Jonas wandered to Inire's Mirror room). Sev's
discussion in UotNS of the many who managed to get into the Secret House supports this.

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