The Claw

Lee Berman · 22 Dec 2011, 14:21 · from 2011-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:21:01 -0500
Subject: (urth) The Claw
Message-ID: <SNT123-W29B92D6E5D9DCEA8C3FBF0CFAA0 at phx.gbl>

>Larry Miller: Ive always thought that the Claw can do what it
>does through the warping of space-time around it because it is a
>temporal anomaly itself......Now we know that two Severians cannot exist 
>in the same point in time and space (ala Apu Punchau-why there was no 
>implosion when they come into contact......so I believe that this creates 
>some kind of anomalous effect around Severian.  This causes the Claw to warp 
>time back to the time when Dorcas was alive resurrecting her.

Dorcas does suggest the Claw works by warping time.  So, maybe because Severian's 
life is stretched from primitive times to the far future, his energy source is sort 
of like a temporal rubber band always ready to snap?  It would explain why 
Severian feels so drained after using his power.

I think the prevailing view is that his energy source is from another universe,
the one higher than his own. There is an Asimov story (The Gods Themselves) from
about the same time period which uses the same principle, though in that case 
(despite the book title) there is no spiritual aspect to the higher universe as
there seems to be in BotNS. The higher universe is explained entirely in terms of 
physical laws- stronger nuclear force, weaker gravity, etc.

So, a leak (the White Fountain) from a higher universe to a lower one would 
allow an eternal, never diminishing energy source. Does that mean Urth's sun
has become immortal? (I think Severian is immortal, so, perhaps).

Anyway, unlike Asimov, Wolfe ties travel to the higher universe to time travel
in some sense. So perhaps your theory can be worked into the prevailing view in
some manner?

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