Severian's motive for memory

maa32 · 09 Jul 2003, 05:54 · from urth-v0307.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) Severian's motive for memory
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2003 22:54:28 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0307-3595 at digest.urth.net>
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I don't expect that everyone will agree with me on this one, but I think it=20
justifies Severian's CONTINUAL claims of perfect memory a bit.

First off, let's think about Severian's audience in Book of the New Sun: he=
 is=20
the autarch, and he wants to quell the angry exultants who don't like=20
commoners or half-breeds on the throne, the ones who gave Appian so much=20
trouble that he had to keep hostages to kill if a family got out of hand (h=
is=20
concubines).  Severian also has to worry about threats from outer space,=20
threats from sea powers that he doesn't understand, and threats from the=20
north.  In the popularity polls, I think this would make a ruler a lot lowe=
r=20
than Nixon.  Nixon didn't torture people from birth.  So what does Severian=20
do?  He writes a narrative in which he purports to be a religious figure of=20
DESTINY - his fate pre-ordained from the beginning.  He uses ghosts of old=20
masters to put forth the idea that the highest form of government is loyalt=
y=20
to the person of the monarch: ie - whoever is in charge now is the big boss=
,=20
and no hostile takeover should be allowed since he is like God.  Indeed,=20
Triskele is used in this scene as a sample worshiper of Severian.  He placa=
tes=20
the insurgents like Vodalus by claiming from the very beginning that he's o=
n=20
their side, and always has been.  He presents the Ascians in a more=20
sympathetic light than can be expected because he probably wants the war to=20
end.  He tries very hard to make it clear that he is the ordained master, t=
he=20
New Sun.  Note that it is not this Severian who brings the new sun and writ=
es=20
Urth of the New Sun - that is another one.  Notice that over and over Sever=
ian=20
will try to show how his destiny was inescapable: he was forced to eat Thec=
la=20
(who was definitely a supporter of Vodalus and Abia, since she wanted to go=
 up=20
to Lake Diuturna when she got out and talked about pelagic depths all the=20
time), forced to eat the old autarch, and destined for a throne without rea=
l=20
desire for it.  In many ways, the first four books can be seen as a politic=
al=20
document apologizing for his rise to autarch.  He has been manipulated by=20
powers which should not be meddled with, but from the beginning he had some=20
presentiment of that great destiny.

Why the insistence that his memory is perfect?  For one thing, he wants his=20
audience to believe that once and for all he is the commonwealth - all the=20
memories of its rulers live on in his perfect mind.  Another reason is that=
 I=20
believe that he has lived his life over and over again - there is little=20
evidence that Severian is going to go back in time after the end of Urth of=20
the New Sun and be an autarch whose forebrain will be eaten in the line of=20
succession.  And yes, Severian DID have access to the Book of Canog, which =
was=20
the Book of the New Sun, and the story of his life.  It was one of the four=20
that he checked out for Thecla, according to Wolfe in his little essay in=20
Plan(e)t Engineering.  So he could have read his life before.

In any case, the political agenda of the first four books (which I insist w=
ere=20
written by a very different Severian than Urth of the New Sun) is quite cle=
ar:=20
Severian was destined to be the ruler, and possibly save the Urth, so don't=20
rebel or complain.  Or he'll torture you, because he's good at that, too. A=
nd=20
he's not afraid of putting people in their place violently, like Eata.
And he won't ever, ever forget if you betray him. =20
Marc Aramini

--=20

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