(urth) Questions . . .

[Transentient]

On Nov 26, 2007, at 10:48 PM, Jeff Wilson wrote:

>
>
>> 3) Is there a deeper significance to the code phrases Vodalus gives
>> Severian?  There's so much about ships elsewhere in the book (the
>> pelagic argosy) - the ship on the tomb Sev rests in as a boy, the  
>> ship
>> he sails to Yesod in - and the Autarch drops the phrase to Sev. as  
>> he's
>> talking about the higher world Severian will eventually travel to.   
>> Or
>> is it "just" a phrase?
>
> "pelagic" makes it a specific sort of ship, one that sails the high
> seas. This distinguishes it from the Tzadkiel, or the riverine vessel
> Severian nearly sinks in Urth. Also, argosy can be multiple ships.  
> Hmm,
> perhaps "pelagic" is the only sort of vessel *not* encountered in
> Severian's chronicle, though the crypt would seem to depict one.
>

When I first read those lines, I went and looked up _pelagic_ and  
found a definition that I thought meant in the very deep, open sea,  
very far from land.

So a "pelagic argosy" is kind of a neat paradox in that way. There you  
are far, far from the shore, and you see the shore. What's that! I'm  
scared. See what I mean?