More on Frog and Fish

James Wynn · 26 May 2011, 02:21 · from 2011-May.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 21:21:43 -0500
Subject: (urth) More on Frog and Fish
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W130F6A0EFF605CBC101618CF740 at phx.gbl>
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Message-ID: <4DDDB937.5010902 at gmail.com>

> I think the Romulus and Mowgli stories are to be seen as
> pointing to Severian. Not only was he brought up by 'wolves' and
> became a ruler, but his mother, it seems, was a virgin priestess, and
> he had a twin.  Also as a baby he was carried in a basket. (It's not
> clear why that would be important, but Wolfe seems to think it is - he
> mentions baskets repeatedly.)  On the face of it, he's a better fit
> for Frog than Ymar was. But of course the story isn't a record of his
> life; it's a myth that looks forward to him.

This was actually my first assumption. I was motivated to make it work. 
But we know more about Severian than anyone else in the book, yet beyond 
very broad outlines (in some cases), he doesn't seem to map or be 
mappable. The whole bit about the Butcher and the wolves...and just 
can't see how to force him into it. And there are elements that don't 
really seem to work at all. Even after Urth of the New Sun, the 
end-story doesn't look like Severian at all. That flood would be hard to 
miss.

J.

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