(urth) "Myfather's mounted guard"

[Son of Witz]

I just read Borski's solar labyrinth article on Thecla.
My Father's Mounted Guard.
Her Father is the Autarch.
seems pretty viable to me, and a lot more interesting than the mundane answer.

While I've got some serious qualms about the nature of Borski's investigations, they do make for some interesting ideas. Thecla and Masks of the Father stand out as very useful to unlocking the book.

what are my qualms then?:
just that most of the added details only add to the plowman's meaning and add very little to the soothsayers' or transcendental meanings.  This book is like what Dorcas says about the floating cathedral (It is the Catheral of the Claw that jumps into the air when it's set afire, right?) She says "It
seems to me that what you call the third meaning is very clear. But the second
meaning is harder to find, and the first, which ought to be the easiest, is
impossible."  So, I guess since the first meaning is so difficult, Borski should be commended for connecting the breadcrumb trails with some neon paint.

However I can't help but feel that what Wolfe wanted us to take away was the third and second meanings, and he used the ambiguity of the first to lead us further than plot.  I'm not sure where to credit it, but an esoteric teaching I've heard is "there is no escape through the horizontal"  and I would argue that most of these readings leave us wandering in the labyrinth.  I find the transcendental readings, the vertical dimension, lead us out of the labyrinth and into even MORE interesting territory than the labyrinth of incestuous time warped bloodlines and religio-political manipulation.

Using time warped incestuous bloodlines as an example, what is more important – that Severian might be his wife's grandchild? (Valeria as mother of Catherine theory) – that he was potentially many Severian's resurrected? (the empty coffins) – OR – that his life is a loop?  I would argue that Wolfe is elusive on these details because what matters is that his life is a Loop, because it gets into the larger notion of Death and Resurrection and cyclical universes, the metaphor of the Amphisbaena.  The mechanics of how his life is a loop are just details that get us there.

I do find the puzzles fascinating.  But as someone mentioned that in an interview, even Wolfe doesn't know who Severa is.  I would say it's not nailed down because it's not very important to the meaning of the story.