dog-ape

Andrew Mason · 07 Dec 2010, 15:18 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 15:18:17 +0000
Subject: (urth) dog-ape
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=3XdC=twM+i9JZZC+XUJ-4mk-cLuKL=4mrRxKZ at mail.gmail.com>

Jane Delawney wrote:

> (Yes, IMO an ape with the head of a dog - ! - is a tad more fantastic
> than a monkey that can make a few human-like vocalizations, let alone
> than a talking night-chough.)

It isn't just that it can make human vocalisations; it clearly means
what it says (as does Oreb). Both seem to have an intelligence which
is sub-human but very real. There are a couple of Oreb's-eye-view
passages which bear this out. (Severian says at some point that some
animals have learnt a few words, so this is in keeping with the future
setting. There are also the writing rats.)

I'm not sure if the dog-headed ape is just a baboon, as Mo Holkar
suggests, or a strange hybrid; but given the human-animal hybrids of
Severian's time, it's not too surprising that there were would also be
animal-animal hybrids.

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