(urth) The Katharine maid

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

On 10/29/06, Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:
> It therefore seems to me that your above interpretation of what Severian
> meant by "taken" into the guild can't be correct. His "the children the
> torturers take know no breasts" statement is unqualified, making no
> exception for himself or the hypothetical baby. Even if each and every
> apprentice in the guild came to be there as a result of his mother having
> given birth to him naturally in a cell or by C-section, then who are the
> children the torturers take who know no breasts?

Roy,

Though the statement is unqualified, I think there is an _implicit_
qualification that cuts through this dilemma like Alexander's sword
through a certain knot.

The children the torturers take know no breasts ... _after_ they are
taken. The torturers, obviously, have no control over what happens
_before_ the child is taken.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
http://www.danehyoakes.com
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open
sewer and die.
  - Mel Brooks