(urth) And Another:

[Paul B]

Thank you for clearing up the previous one, I'm heartened enough by that to
try my luck again with another question:  In Shadow, end of Ch. 2, when
Severian describes his drowning vision, he says he saw Malrubius.  However,
at that point he's questioned by "An old man, a boatman from his tar-stained
clothes" about it, the man asks whether he actually saw a woman.  Of course
Severian does see the undine, and hears Thecla, but doesn't answer.   The
puzzling thing is the identity of the man, and how he knows what he does.
Let me know what you think!

My own speculations are thus:
Judging by his familiarity with the situation - he's confident enough to ask
a clarification of something as ephemeral as a vision, so he must know what
he's talking about - he's familiar with a version of Severian's story told
at another time.  However, the odd thing is that Severian doesn't appear in
any time so close to his starting point.  In fact, the closest documented
time preceding his birth is the age of Typhon, when he travels down Gyoll,
isn't it?  He does encounter a lot of boatmen then, some of whom become his
disciples as the Conciliator, but that is so far removed that it seems
unlikely that they preserved that minor a part of his tale.
The first Severian's time traveling is undocumented as best I know, though
apparently both S1 and S2 are Apu Punchau at some time, and since his tomb
is in the necropolis it's possible that he has in fact visited some time
period much closer to his birth and that's where the story diffuses from.

However, these are very vague.  Even though Severian often bumps into echoes
of himself, they are usually much more defined ones, that's why I'm curious
if there's a better explanation.

Paul
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