Five Severians -- Severian-as-Clone

Michael Thayer · 18 Dec 2013, 22:08 · from 2013-December.txt.gz

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From: michael.o.thayer at gmail.com (Michael Thayer)
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 17:08:31 -0500
Subject: (urth) Five Severians -- Severian-as-Clone
Message-ID: <CAHS3GWdsNj8NdWj4Zw-UznDN8T2FcvJk-xoEO=5M4dOB+9xWgQ at mail.gmail.com>

>etonio at gmail.com:  At the risk of sounding pedestrian, I just don't see
why such clones would be stored in such a place (but maybe those aren't
coffins? Certainly Sev's mention of liking to sleep inside looks like
something that ought to draw attention in a book where so much isn't what
it seems).

>Don't be afraid to fire away theories! This list has seen all sorts of
things with plenty of rhyme but not so much reason, whereas yours have the
merit of being derived from the books.

Thanks, etonio, I assure you I am the pedestrian on this street!  I don't
have any idea why someone would store clones inside coffins in a
time-dislocated mausoleum.*  I admit it may be a fatal flaw in the
argument.  But I think that any explanation for the mausoleum -- with its
five coffins, two empty, three closed -- will present similar difficulties
(maybe not? if not, please pipe up!).  In any event, my focus isn't on
exploring the Severian-as-clone theory, but on answering the question:
what's up with the five coffins in Severian's mausoleum, two open, three
closed?  What/who/which-versions-of-who was/is/will be inside of them?  I
can't help but think that this is -- if not the threshold mystery of the
novel -- one of the first tier mysteries, and I can't find a satisfying
theory anywhere!

*(Not for nothing, Father Inire's Second House consists of rooms that look
like paintings, so why not a clone-storage unit that looks like a coffin --
Inire may be one of the walkers of the Corridors of Time that Severian
tells us is manipulating his destiny - Citadel, pg. 405-406 - and, if so,
he could be behind the mausoleum of clones. I think this is at least
as plausible as some theories on other topics published by Borsky or Clute,
so I figured I'd throw it out there and see if it strikes a chord with
anyone else.)
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