The Two Coins

António Pedro Marques · 14 Aug 2010, 20:58 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ant=F3nio_Pedro_Marques?=)
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:58:27 +0100
Subject: (urth) The Two Coins
In-Reply-To: <bbf4ed32ee9b5ffd38e0c2a95287a472.squirrel at webmail.prismnet.com>
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	<bbf4ed32ee9b5ffd38e0c2a95287a472.squirrel at webmail.prismnet.com>
Message-ID: <4C670373.5020507 at gmail.com>

Jeff Wilson wrote:
>>
>>> Gerry Quinn:
>>> No, there was positive ID from Ouen's locket, and lots of supporting
>>> evidence.  Also the narrator plays detective and finds this out with no
>>> particular reason for us to doubt it, which IMO is a literary signal that
>>> this is canon.
>>> The hypothesis that Dorcas is Severian's grandmother has distinctive
>>> characteristics that many such hypotheses lack...
>>
>> That Severian seems to be actively investigating his family tree does add
>> a somewhat unique aspect to this puzzle. Boatman as grandfather, Ouen as
>> father and Holy Katharine maid as mother joins in this aspect. (I must
>> wonder why the Boatman, alone, remains unnamed).
>
> I don't think there is confirmation that Holy Katherine and Mom are the
> same person.

I can't help feeling that the question of who is who is just not very 
interesting unless 'who' turns out to be someone we know for more than 2 
pages. (Corollary: if his mother is just Holy Katharine's template or 
doesn't even enter the story at all, then...)

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