From: David_Lebling@avid.com
Subject: (urth) Juturna; Mysteries
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 17:20:12 



"Greene, Carlton" <CGreene2@hunton.com> asks:
<<Sev says of Juturna: "She saved me once when
I was a boy" and then to her "Do you remember that?"  Juturna replies "No.
It hasn't yet occurred.  It will, because you spoke.">>

I've always assumed that this means that Juturna will now swim through time and
then Gyoll to assure that Severian is saved.  That is, it is the Juturna of the
present of _Urth of the New Sun_ who goes back and saves him from drowning in
_Shadow of the Torturer_.  I concede that the living-backwards explanation is
possible as well, though to be honest, I think that Ossipago et al. live
backwards only in the sense that Severian's earlier (in his life) meetings of
them are with later (in their life) versions of themselves.  No one ever bothers
to be clear in the books, using metaphors like the Brook Madregot when
time-travel is meant.  So, "living backwards" is just a metaphoric way of
explaining their peculiar interactions with Severian, who is, after all, a
barbarian.

William Ansley writes:
<<This invites you to analyze the text in a way that
more ordinary books don't, but it tends to lead to the conclusion that
every mystery Wolfe sets has a solution.>>

I refer you to the motto/colophon of the Urth Archive web site. It is Wolfe
speaking through the mouth of Agia...

     -- Dave Lebling
     (aka vizcacha)



*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/