The Two Katharines

Lee Berman · 16 Aug 2010, 19:51 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:51:48 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Two Katharines
Message-ID: <SNT123-W192AAF7F3615969A278CCDCF9B0 at phx.gbl>

Sigh, yes, thank you for getting the basic idea of Dave Tallman's theory, Ryan.
I was about to give up trying amidst all the misunderstandings. Perhaps that
would have been the best course of action anyway.

That's the idea. A sword that is twice described as made from light materials 
(batten and tinsel) is later described as very heavy. Yes, the old hilt could 
be heavy but if Severian is knocked off balance by lifting it, a heavy blade 
seems a more likely culprit. The physics of that should be clear.

The suggestion Dave (I think it was him) made is that the maid was a khaibit, 
she was really beheaded but a trick allowed another, identical khaibit to
take her place, thus allowing real blood to be used as the chrism, thus 
requiring Severian to observe his mother (in clone form) being killed over and 
over all his life, and eventually having him kill her himself. I don't know
what the purpose of that might be. Perhaps a literary contrast to him resurrecting 
his grandmother.

The appeal to it is found in Dr. Talos' play. We have a (presumably) exultant 
Contessa named Carina (a form of Catherine) who has three maids, all with saint
names of women who were beheaded. Anything which adds meaning to that confusing
play is interesting to me.

I also find the theory interesting because it can be tied to my perception that
the woman Severian sees on the Path of Air (Contessa's Road of Air) is related to
the woman in the grave from the first few pages of the story and Catherine.

>Ryan Dunn- If it turns out it WAS a real blade, then we may as well not believe 
>anything Severian tells us at all.

That is an interesting statement. Many think that Severian is an unreliable 
narrator who makes numerous mistakes and even lies in the text. Rather 
refreshing to see some one considers Severian totally reliable. I truly like the 
guy and think he deserves a little more support and understanding than he gets in 
here.

p.s. my post said "IF the false sword was said to be made of mahogany then we 
wouldn't need to question it being heavy." But a batten is a thin, light piece
of wood, by definition.

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