Urth Net
urth-urth.net Digest, Vol 10, Issue 21
I was always under the impression that Sev's pale complexion was due to the fact he stayed in Matachin Tower most of the time and only rarely got to go out.
Dan
18 quoted lines · 1–2 deep
At 02:06 PM 6/19/2005, you wrote:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 19:13:27 +0000
From: "mournings glory" <mourningsglory at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) RE: Severian's skin colour
To: urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net
Message-ID: <BAY107-F5298AECB9E246F3D1AB76D8F70 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
Yaaaay! Textual evidence! Hallelujah!
There's also this fascinating description by Mr Wolfe himself from THRUST 19:
Thrust: If Severian were standing in front of us, describe him externally and internally.
Wolfe: You didn't say at what point in his life, so I'll choose him at the time he leaves the Citadel. He is 6' 1" and weighs 175 pounds. He is pale, with dark eyes, dark straight hair, and good teeth. His face is long and rather bony; high, square forehead, moderately high cheekbones, strong chin. He is muscular; his hands are a little larger than average. He wears heavy, black, knee-length leather boots, coarsely but strongly made; soot-black trousers of a fabric like soft wool; and a long, hooded cloak (unlinted) of the same material. He wears no shirt. Mentally, he is an unconscious intellectual--that is to say, he is fascinated by ideas, including problems of ethics and morality, but he is not aware that he is an intellectual and for the most part he lacks the vocabulary. He is a great deal less like most men than he thinks he is. Even so, he knows himself to be alienated by his eidetic memory. Subconsciously, he has been further marked by the loss of his mother in infancy. He has difficulty in forming relationships because of that, although he does sometimes form them; and he tends toward strong erotic attachments to women who subconsciously suggest the mother he lost. On the simplest level, this means toward women who are physically larger than he--Thea, Thecla, the undine--and to Jolenta, who has unusually large breasts. Of course, everyone is attracted to Jolenta, or at least nearly everyone. On a more subtle level he is attracted to women who act as guides, Agia, or counselors, Dorcas.
msg