"pristine" first chapter

maa32 · 12 Jul 2003, 06:15 · from urth-v0307.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) "pristine" first chapter
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 23:15:24 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0307-3661 at digest.urth.net>
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Just an offhand comment that many here will already know:

The mistake in identification between Drotte and Roche, coming early in the=20
narrative, seems unlikely to be a mistake by Wolfe because of its prevalenc=
e=20
as the opening scene.  However (as someone who just completed a novel with =
a=20
lackluster beginning that I'm still changing) sometimes the beginning is th=
e=20
easiest part to change.  Indeed, we know that Wolfe switched the first chap=
ter=20
with the second chapter in his narrative.  Which means that orginally=20
"Severian" would have been the first chapter, and we would have seen the=20
drowning before the saving of Vodalus.  There is so much in that first chap=
ter=20
that it is hard to believe that it might be a last minute revision, but the=20
possibility does exist that it is the last thing Wolfe touched in his rewri=
te=20
of Shadow of the Torturer.

My question is this: assuming that all of these mistakes in memory are vali=
d,=20
do they all point to something?  Are any of them related to his use of the=20
claw?  Does anything connect them?  What does it matter if Severian has an=20
almost perfect memory as opposed to a perfect one?  I like the idea that th=
e=20
previous iterations of Severian survive in his memories: he's lived the sam=
e=20
stuff so many times that he remembers multiple timelines and only thinks th=
at=20
he actually remembers what happened to him.  My favorite example is his=20
recital of the poem of hiding: he changes from "Like glass grow to any eye"=
 to=20
"Like grass grow to any eye" from SotT to CotA.  A typo?  A fruedian slip? =20
And then, if the Severian that comes to retreive the coin is a different ey=
e,=20
changed through time and manipulation, does the coin simply appear to be=20
counterfeit to his eyes?  Could it be genuine all along, while Severian's=20
primitive magic actually deceives his future self?  Some odd stuff.

Do the changes make him look better?  Not really.  It justs lets us know th=
at=20
his memory is fishy and may not be utterly accurate because his life has be=
en=20
extensively meddled with.

Also, on the topic of Silk confused as Malrubius: yes, Gurloe's fear in=20
Chapter 19 of RttW was the primary area, but I also thought that Brother=20
Porter saw Silk and thought he was Malrubius as well.  I thought there were=20
two occurences of this. I'll look again.

Marc Aramini

--=20

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