The Two Katharines

Lee Berman · 16 Aug 2010, 17:55 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:55:51 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Two Katharines
Message-ID: <SNT123-W410A34E218F1410461BB01CF9B0 at phx.gbl>

>Ryan Dunn- - So every apprentice ever elevated has to behead Severian's mom? 
Or are they beheading a puppet? Or an ageless woman in costume with a detachable 
head which is not real?

No, as I undertand the theory, they are khaibits.

>I don't buy for one second that a real human is sacrificed during the elevation of 
>an apprentice.So someone dies, but then someone else in a similar shape gets up and 
>pretends to put on the head of the one who was just killed? Not buying it.

Heh, heh, no sale? Can't blame you. The whole thing is pure speculation, piling guess-
work upon guesswork. But I thought everything in here was for free. More like a trash
heap. Up to each person to sort through the trash and decides what is treasure.

>The lochage indeed said that if a pauper jumped from a bridge every time we breathed, 
>it wouldn't matter, because the Commonwealth breeds and breaks men faster than we respire.

I agree, it doesn't sound like a society very respectful of human life to me.

>I don't think it's relevant to the text that I read, wherein paper roses and a fake 
>broken wheel precede Severian tripping an "ingenius mechanism" which elevates a "wax 
>head smeared with blood" while the maid "draped her own with a fuligin cloth."

Well, the wheel and Maxentius and beheading is surely relevant to St. Catherine of 
Alexandria. She got the torturer treatment for refusing to deny her faith and *refusing
a royal wedding*. How that relates to the maid who plays the part and who may have
run off from an order of monials and met a guy named Ouen is, perhaps, a relevant
question.

But the question here is, why does a fake sword described as constructed of especially 
light-weight materials feel very heavy to Severian and almost knock him over as he lifts 
it? If the fake sword had been decribed as "solid mahogany, painted silver" or something 
like that, the question wouldn't be asked.

One explanation is that it isn't a fake sword. Another is Jeff's, that Severian is very
apprehensive about becoming a torturer and the weight is a metaphor for the responsibility he
is about to accept. Perhaps there are other explanations. I'd like to hear them. What harm does 
it do to present them? Each person can decide which works best for them.

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