Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine

Jeff Wilson · 08 Apr 2009, 16:06 · from 2009-April.txt.gz

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From: jwilson at io.com (Jeff Wilson)
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:06:20 -0500
Subject: (urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine
In-Reply-To: <97B6FA1D6FAD4016BBBE736AEC53B810@eMachinePC>
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>
	<97B6FA1D6FAD4016BBBE736AEC53B810@eMachinePC>
Message-ID: <49DCCB7C.2030104 at io.com>

James Wynn wrote:
>> 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.

That's true, but there's already an awareness of clones in the society 
at large, the khaibit class. I could see Severian and Ultan being 
khaibits that have survived their primaries, and Severian's 
interpretation of this state as a sense of being dead.

This might also play into the "where is Severian's sister?" mystery - in 
this case, one would be down at Echopraxia and one at the Well of 
Orchids, depending on how you count siblings with khaibts.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >

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