The Cistern under the bell keep

Son of Witz · 12 Nov 2010, 14:45 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: Sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 06:45:51 -0800
Subject: (urth) The Cistern under the bell keep
In-Reply-To: <4CDD3EB4.3000109 at verizon.net>
References: <2DD5B291-8BBB-4C81-8E4E-F440585DE7D9 at butcherbaker.org>
	<4CDCF16D.1050309 at io.com> <4CDD3EB4.3000109 at verizon.net>
Message-ID: <7FD511E5-6641-4ECF-B52B-2EFD5FE49E84 at butcherbaker.org>



On Nov 12, 2010, at 5:18 AM, David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote:

> And the flushing of the vinculum foreshadows the flooding of Urth.
> 
> On 11/12/2010 2:49 AM, Jeff Wilson wrote:
>> On 11/10/2010 4:19 PM, Son of Witz wrote:
>>> Severian mentions the cistern under the Bell Keep at least 8 times in his five volumes.
>>> Does anyone find a particular significance to it? I haven't.  He seems to use it for comparison only, but it keeps coming up throughout the books.
>> 
>> Well it provides foreshadowing of the flushing of the vinculum. It also gives a plausible reason for a lifelong dweller in urban medieval squalor to be familiar with the appearance and other properties of a large volume of clear, fresh water, the better to analogize and metaphorize for the first world reader.
>> 

Hmmm.  I guess so.  Perhaps in terms of potential.  It's something his memory keeps returning to, so perhaps this represents the potential of deluge.  I think there might me more.

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