From: CRCulver@aol.com
Subject: Re:  (urth) Valeria and Catherine and Peter and Doug
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:46:17 EDT


Raster spoke:
<Severian is not a veteran aviator; he has difficulty with directions; the
Citadel is a big place, and the Atrium is a small place, and none of the old
maps fit.>

Yes, and Severian does mention that he must have seen the place he sought many
times.


And continued:
<I nominate the Contessa Carina.

"But she's a fictional character!"  Yes.  So are Severian, and Thecla and
Dorcas and all the rest.  They are all creations of Gene Wolfe.  Why shouldn't
they meet one another?>

The events of the latter half of the UotNS are indeed in Canog's Book of the
New Sun, from which Dr. Talos drew his play. I favour the idea that Severian,
who can now walk the corridors of time, met Canog once again and filled him in
on the latest happenings.

To Kieran: As for the idea that Wolfe is making use of cheap writing elements
when he makes Severian's family the way it is, I offer this explanation: Wolfe
is fallible. Aren't we all? And he does much the same thing in the BotLS.

Christopher R. Culver <crculver@aol.com>
http://members.aol.com/crculver/index.html
------------------------------------------------
"The darkest dreams are the ones that come true."
-Warren Defever

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