Father Inire Theory

Ryan Dunn · 04 Dec 2010, 17:48 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: ryan at liftingfaces.com (Ryan Dunn)
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2010 12:48:39 -0500
Subject: (urth) Father Inire Theory
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W4856A76223348B95A3427CCF290 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W4856A76223348B95A3427CCF290 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <EA4DDCC0-4F3F-4CF2-A842-8EB3047BD9F2 at liftingfaces.com>

On Dec 4, 2010, at 12:25 PM, Lee Berman wrote:

>> M. ben Witz: Wait a sec. I JUST finished NewSun again and I can not remember the 
>> old boatman in any other scenes besides the near drowning at the beginning and when 
>> we meet him on the Lake of Birds.
> 
> That's an interest post to me Witz. Most do not think the boatman at the drowning is
> the Boatman at the Lake of Birds. I think Borski suggests that the "drowning" old boatman
> is Maxellindis' "Uncle", who is also a boatman, because they both speak of undines. Actually
> all three of these boatmen speak of undines. I wrote it as Maxellindis' "Uncle" because 
> Severian suspects it isn't really her uncle. Thus we have at least two of the boatmen showing
> a creepy fascination for pubescent young women (some calculate Dorcas' age at 13-14 for her
> first birth). So maybe add "creepy poppet fascination" to "monkeys", "old and bent" and "obscured 
> eyes" as marks of a shapeshifter.

To me, the simple clue of a random old man asking whether a man underwater was sure he didn't see a woman under there, would suggest the Boatman. Doesn't Gyoll flow into the Garden of Endless Sleep, anyway?

I don't recall the boatman at Gyoll asking after undines, just whether Severian was sure he didn't see a woman.

And regarding the boatman at the Botanic having a fascination for young girls, why couldn't the boatman have been of a similar age when she died? I thought the point of the boatman was to demonstrate just how long Dorcas had been submerged. Am I missing something?

...ryan

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