razors here 'n' there

Tony Ellis · 29 Oct 1998, 13:47 · from urth-v0021.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: (urth) Re: (whorl) razors here 'n' there
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 13:47:01 +0000
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Mantis wrote:
> This scene contains much.  That the soldier stares into the water
> like Narcissus is one thing, but that it later turns out he somehow
> looks like a male form of Jolenta (Severian shows him his face in a
> mirror and asks him if it is like the one of the most beautiful woman
> in the world; "Miles" says yes; then Severian tells him Jolenta is
> dead [ch. 6]) is an additional puzzle piece which I don't think has
> ever been addressed.  (Is the body "Miles" therefore literally the
> brother of Jolenta?

Severian omits a number of important details from his narrative, but I
can't believe he could stumble across a dead soldier who looked like
Jolenta's twin brother and not mention the fact. I think the
significance of the mirror incident is that -Miles- sees Jolenta's face,
not that Severian does. It's a confirmation of Severian's otherwise
fantastic mental leap to the conclusion that Miles has been possessed by
Jonas: the soldier's sense of self is so slight that when he looks in
the mirror all he sees is the object of Jonas's obsession.=20

In which case it's not Narcissus staring into the water, but Echo - the
one who pined away for love of that self-centred little flower.

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