Sev and Thecla in childhood

Tony Ellis · 22 Sep 1998, 15:42 · from urth-v0019.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: (urth) Sev and Thecla in childhood
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:42:12 +0100
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Jon Camfield wrote:

> "...I played again with pebbles in the courtyard beside the fallen curtain
> wall, as Thecla dodged the hooves of my father's mounted guard"=20
> (II, XXV, 204)
	<snip>
> "of my father's mounted guard"  is really troublesome.  It's not Thecla,
> because Sev is (presumably, no hints to the contrary) still talking in the
> first person, and describing Thecla in the third.  This implies it is
> Severian's father...

I really think you're seeing complications that aren't there with this
one. TBOTNS is full of moments where Thecla's personality surfaces and
speaks, or rather writes, in the first person. All that's happening here
is that it's happening within the confines of one sentence for effect.
The transition presumably takes place after "wall", but anywhere before
"my father's mounted guard" would do.

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