The Two Katharines

Lee Berman · 16 Aug 2010, 01:52 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:52:20 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Two Katharines
Message-ID: <SNT123-W241E1C53071C413A5DAE42CF9B0 at phx.gbl>

>James Wynn- I guess Mom Catherine might be loose somewhere, maybe even back with the 
>Pelerines, but the Holy Katharine maid retains her maid-like appearance 
>for at least 15-20 years. This kind of youth for a human being is 
>unknown in the Book.

I think one of the main theories about Catherine/Holy Katharine maid and her enduring
youth involve her residing in a tower (probably Valeria's) off the Atrium of Time, and
time time travel explains her agelessness. The dark-haired, olive-skinned, oval-faced 
woman in a pale gown Severian sees on the Path of Air is probably related.

Another theory is that there are khaibits involved. Maybe a new one each year.  Somehow 
the fictional Contessa Carina and her maids (all with beheaded saint names) might be 
involved. I think Roy doesn't like this one because Catherine is armiger height and
the text only mentions exultant women having khaibits. But House Azure khaibits are
shorter than exultants and we don't know how tall the source material for a khaibit
of catherine might have been.

My own theory sort of combines all these, with the addition of the fresh corpse that 
Severian sees in the grave in the very first chapter. She has dark hair and a pale gown. 
I take her livid face to be the result of a device well-described but otherwise not notably
integrated into the plot, Allowin's Necklace.

Webster says livid can mean a few things-
1 : discolored by bruising : black-and-blue <the livid traces of the sharp scourges ? Abraham Cowley>
2 : ashen, pallid <this cross, thy livid face, thy pierced hands and feet ? Walt Whitman>
3 : reddish <a fan of gladiolas blushed livid under the electric letters 

FWIW, I find dark-haired, oval faced, failed Pelerine Cyriaca to be in the mix somehow.
She (also?) is sentenced to strangulation for infidelity.

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