BOTNS Manuscript Conundrum

Friends, One of the most plaguing questions I've been asking myself recently is the origin of the manuscript of the BOTNS, i.e. how it came from Severian's time to our own so "Gene Wolfe could translate it." I originally thought it was answered in the scene in the first few chapters of Urth , where Severian throws the manuscript (second copy) into space where it was set "adrift on the seas of space and time." (Citadel chapter 38). Here, it seems to say that the manuscript traveled into Severian's universe's past, where it could be translated. However, this problem is made complex by the revelation that's Severian's universe is NOT the same as our own. The flow of time breaks down into: (Yesod?) - Briah - "Interlude" Universe - Our Universe Severian lives in Briah. Wolfe lives in Our Universe. Now, Briah and Our Universe are very similar and have the same events happening, more or less, but they are not the same. How, then, does the manuscript come to us? (Yes, I realise the translation scheme was just a cute gimmick much like Tolkien's playing around about his translating the Silmarillion. But if Wolfe plays the game of translation, then he's gonna throw in enough evidence to make it stick, 'cause he likes details). Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> <new_sun at hotmail.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html ------------------------------------------------ "Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path" -Brendan Perry

Friends, One of the most plaguing questions I've been asking myself recently is the origin of the manuscript of the BOTNS, i.e. how it came from Severian's time to our own so "Gene Wolfe could translate it." I originally thought it was answered in the scene in the first few chapters of Urth , where Severian throws the manuscript (second copy) into space where it was set "adrift on the seas of space and time." (Citadel chapter 38). Here, it seems to say that the manuscript traveled into Severian's universe's past, where it could be translated. However, this problem is made complex by the revelation that's Severian's universe is NOT the same as our own. The flow of time breaks down into: (Yesod?) - Briah - "Interlude" Universe - Our Universe Severian lives in Briah. Wolfe lives in Our Universe. Now, Briah and Our Universe are very similar and have the same events happening, more or less, but they are not the same. How, then, does the manuscript come to us? (Yes, I realise the translation scheme was just a cute gimmick much like Tolkien's playing around about his translating the Silmarillion. But if Wolfe plays the joke of translating a real document, then he's gonna throw in enough evidence to make it stick, 'cause he likes details). Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com> <new_sun at hotmail.com> http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html ------------------------------------------------ "Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path" -Brendan Perry