Jonas & Hethor & Thecla

Quotes from C. Culver and Tony Ellis

I've just reread Concilliator, chapters XIII-XVII (, the notules, the anteroom, the escape and Jonas's disappearence into the mirrors. And I think that wherever Jonas grew up, it was not on Urth, though it may have been on Earth (he knows "Alice" and the Theseus story, though this could simply point to a good ship's library). Every time he refers to Urth, it is as a port, not as his home. Nor do I think he is Korean, though he may be able to speak it when he is reminded of KLS (Wolfe probably speaks some himself, from his own time in Korea). There are parts in the books when Urth does seem to be our Earth grown ancient--for example when it is noted that the planets have been renamed because it seemed unseemly that the red one was named for war. Or at the Robert and Marie exhibit. But if this were so, Inire's mirrors would be time-travel devices if Jonas were to get to his goal, and they seem instead to be to be gates to another place (yes, I know how trite the "parallel universe" thing sounds, but really, what else?) Robert and Marie, too, could have come from that place. Hethor's beasts seem to come from yet another place, but that could certainly be from somewhere in Yesod. Jonas is entirely familiar with what the mirrors do, so he must have used them before. On another subject, It has always bothered me that Severian seems to take for granted that his relationship with the inner Thecla is unique. But the alzabo drug would be expected to cause a similar effect in everyone who ate that meal. Moreover, Vodalus & Co. have done this before, with other corpses. I suppose that one could explain this by saying that the alzabo effect is ordinarily powerful but temporary ("a fellow mortal who will live again--strongly, for a time--in us")---like an LSD experience, say---but that the presence of the Claw, or something in his heritage, somehow imprints Thecla on Sev in a unique way. Nevertheless, this isn't explained, and it's weird to think of a couple of dozen or so people all experiencing Thecla the way Sev does. -alga-

I wonder if there could be some difference attributable to Severian's memory. Perhaps for everyone else the sharing of Thecla is a fleeting thing, but since Severian can't forget, Thecla is always with him. Have you read "The Hemmingway Hoax" by Joe Haldeman? A nifty novella featuring a protagonist with an eidetic memory that has an interesting side effect. Except that all the autarchs are supposed to share all the memories of the previous ones. So we could still save the idea if the autarch's alzabo is more powerful, so that autarchs always have the experience that Severian only has with Thecla because of his perfect memory. -Rostrum

24/03/98 15:23 RE>Jonas & Hethor & Thecla

Yes. Jonas is a sailor, so it would be natural for him to regard a ship, or perhaps all space, as his home. <snip>

I've always assumed that Jonas simply escapes to a -place- where he can be repaired, rather than a time. (A place in our universe, that is, rather than some other.) One of the worlds of the Hierodules, perhaps, or some other planet that still has a viable technology.

I think if they come from anywhere it's the past rather than a parallel Earth, since it's implied pretty strongly that the Botanical Gardens extend into Urth's past. But don't forget that they may simply be "chant-caught" contempories of Severian. I've always loved that scene for its tantalising ambiguity.

Hmm, I could swear that there's at least one point where Sev or someone -does- assert that the Claw resurected Thecla within him. But of course I have no idea where <g>. I'll start hunting.