"my father's mounted guard"

b sharp · 21 Oct 2008, 15:13 · from 2008-October.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:13:50 -0400
Subject: (urth) "my father's mounted guard"
Message-ID: <BAY103-W56920C481551E4458E7AC5D72E0 at phx.gbl>

>Some inconvenient facts:
>1) Thecla was an exultant. The exultants are a closed caste, meaning onemust be *born* to it, 
>of exultant parents. 2) The lame (and still living) Castellan was not an exultant. 3) Thecla's father 
>had given a ball for her each year until he *died*.

I dunno, Roy. "Fact" is a pretty strong word for use describing an ambiguous work of fiction. But 
anyway, I can't remember reading that both parents were required to be exultant for exultant status. 
Nor do I remember any statement of class status for the Castellan but I do seem to remember reading
that military officer positions might be filled by armigers or exultants.  I think there is more evidence that 
Catherine is not an exultant, due to her height, but not sure it matters. The bit about having a ball 
every year until he died was part of a dream sequence I think, one which also included a father figure
with the head of a brown eyed bull. Given that dreamy milieu I'm not sure we can call it a "fact" that
her father is dead. And then there is that "villa"...

Anyway, as noted in my last post, I'm currently of the thought that Severian's family membership has
been deliberately obscured through the use of pink herrings; hints at possibilities with no intention of there
being one "true" answer which can be divined. So any suggestion of who Severian's family might be 
(including Dorcas and Ouen) is open for doubt, debate and denial. Any suggestion one could make is easy
enough to knock down. Still seems worth pointing out these hints anyway.

In an interview somewhere, Gene Wolfe was asked how long he hoped his work would be read after his 
death. He was surprised at the question but he was able to answer "100 years" or "300 years" I forget which.
Either way, that's pretty ambitious I think, and says to me that we'll get no deathbed revelations solving any 
of these mysteries. Ah well. Some like eternal mystery. Not me so much, though.
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