Subject: Re: (urth) Severian, memory, alzabo
From: matthew.malthouse@guardian.co.uk
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 10:17:09 +0100

On 09/07/2003 19:09:22 Chris wrote:

>This is true, though the fact that they come to life within him seems 
unique
>to Sev (regardless of which concoction he uses) rather than 
characteristic
>of the autarch's drug. If I had to guess I would say that the difference
>between the drugs is that *for a normal person* the memories gained from 
the
>alzabo fade quickly and are lost, whereas the autarchs must retain more 
of
>them and on more of a permanent basis. With Sev this difference doesn't 
seem
>to be so large.

I can't recall any clue that suggests Sev's experience with autarchical 
inheritance was different from his predecessors - and he has his 
predecessors memories for guidance and comparison.

The other occasion when Sev eats of Thecla he (and we) have the warning 
that sharing those whom one knew well and were emotionally tied to already 
had dangers.  Did not Thea avoid the experince for this reason?

Matthew

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