Severian's Lies

Another one. After describing his near drowning on the day he rescued Vodalus, he says "I never went back" to the river. Yet a few chapters later, ("The Last Year", I think) he describes taking the apprentices down to swim in the river, "though I could never dive in deep water without fear." Dave Lebling (aka vizcacha) (david_lebling at avid.com)

Viscacha, You've missed one already--what are you trying to do, cover for Severian? <g> One of Greg Feeley's list of "Severian's lies" is in chapter four, when Valeria mentions the Tower of Torment "where all who enter die in agony." Quote Severian: "I told her that, at least, was a fable." Then again, Feeley was flexible enough to note that the lie was based on the technicallity that the torturers themselves entered (and exited) on a daily basis without dying in agony. FWIW! =mantis=

Alternately, doesn't Severian state that occasionally prisoners die of natural causes while awaiting their sentences? Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

Forgive me if I'm misremembering and the "Tower of Torment" refers specifically to the execution wing of the torturer's building, but aren't there a lot of "clients" whose sentence includes some form of torture but not death? -Rostrum

In message <199812171401.GAA28091 at lists1.best.com>, David_Lebling at avid.com writ es:

I'm not sure if that's a lie or just an inconsistency caused by Severian writing at different times. (I think there's a comment by Severian that says that there might be a long time between two words in the same sentence being written.) Then again, that comment could be a lie to cover up other lies! Derek

In message <199812171923.LAA05547 at lists1.best.com>, "Kevin J. Maroney" writes:

Possibly some forms of suicide could also account for this.[1] (I've just had this image of Severian singing the theme from M*A*S*H - I've a strange sense of humour!) BTW, a quick search has just revealed this URL: http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~djw1005/Personal/Quotes/newsun.html Derek [1]I don't know enough about medicine to tell if Thecla's death could have been painless.