Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine

James Wynn · 08 Apr 2009, 14:35 · from 2009-April.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 09:35:36 -0500
Subject: (urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine
In-Reply-To: <49DC615F.8040406 at io.com>
References: <COL109-W203E9E25E77526A04FB504D7870 at phx.gbl>	<883571995.20090405181338 at poczta.fm><AFEB31E805FC4A70A20D18FBF4D07BC3@eMachinePC>	<49D97045.8000800 at io.com><D75AFBBB6BC0424FAC57BAFF1757A694@eMachinePC>	<49DB204A.2050004 at io.com><FC6E33530DBB4F1AA87E316EE1471FDE@eMachinePC>
	<49DC615F.8040406 at io.com>
Message-ID: <97B6FA1D6FAD4016BBBE736AEC53B810@eMachinePC>

> James Wynn wrote:
>>>> "...and quite suddenly I felt that he and I were dead..."

>>  Jeff Wilson wrote:
>>> but I think it just the general creepiness that give him thoughts
>>> of being dead and buried; indeed the 3rd paragraph before the
>>> end of the chapter includes "To the upper levels of that place
>>> I returned several times, but I never again entered that tomblike 
>>> cellar, or ever wished to."

>> James Wynn wrote:
>> Although I realize some people have physical reactions to this sort of 
>> thing, a minor extension of Don Dogget's clone theory would provide a 
>> narrative (rather than a purely metaphoric --and to my mind desperate) 
>> explanation for Severian's morbid sensation.

>   Jeff Wilson wrote:
> Can you refresh my memory on that, please?

It connects Severian directly to the magic beans in the Spring Wind story, 
and identifies him as a clone one of those "children" of Typhon (Spring 
Wind).  He never claimed that Ultan was a clone to my knowledge, hence the 
"minor extension". But once you bring clones into a story, it is a given 
that there is never just one.

The theory is pretty detailed and I don't think I can do it justice, so 
maybe Don will chime in about it. It is the only theory that I know about 
that attempts to connect that story to the New Sun narrative. I tried to get 
him to write it up formally so I could post it at the Map of the Whorl site, 
but he just never had the time or felt the drive to do that. It came out 
during the time when the list had crashed so I don't think you'll find it in 
the archives.

J.

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