Severian's Phraseology...

Ryan Dunn · 04 Dec 2010, 06:04 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: ryan at liftingfaces.com (Ryan Dunn)
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2010 01:04:46 -0500
Subject: (urth) Severian's Phraseology...
In-Reply-To: <4CF9D415.80100 at io.com>
References: <09971650-9298-47D5-A890-6DDE0D7901ED at liftingfaces.com>
	<4CF9D415.80100 at io.com>
Message-ID: <7BCE4D04-F59F-4654-ABA6-848F58FEF061 at liftingfaces.com>

No, he speaks with the collective voice before he is Autarch, after consuming Thecla, to my knowledge. No?

I think the peculiarity is how objective Severian the Narrator is about his own condition. He is writing all of this as Autarch, with all the memories in his brain. He is able to sort them and explain their differences within his mind this way, yet in conversation he almost explicitly speaks in what I guess you would call first-person plural.

...ryan


On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:39 AM, Jeff Wilson wrote:

> On 12/3/2010 10:42 PM, Ryan Dunn wrote:
>> Anyone else wonder why Severian as Autarch consistently refers to the collective "we" when talking to others?
>> 
>> "Our memories never fade."
>> 
>> "We are going to keep this."
>> 
>> etc.
>> 
>> And yet, Severian the Narrator, never does this.
>> 
>> Anyone else find this peculiar?
> 
> As you know, Bob, it was somewhat customary for western sovereigns to do this, "we" including the notional persons of the state, the crown, the royal consort in unity, etc. and "I" the natural person who happens to hold the above positions, speaking in some lesser capacity. The Autarchy takes this about as far as literally possible, the Autarch being the minds of hundreds of actual people hosted by the humble Commonwealther who was called to that office.
> 
> It is also a clever bit of misdirection, since "I" occasionally becomes Thecla the Narrator without either of them noticing.
> 
> -- 
> Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
> Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
> < http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >
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