(urth) "My father's mounted guard"

Jeff Wilson jwilson at io.com
Wed Oct 8 22:14:55 PDT 2008


Bennewitz wrote:
> In Claw chap XXV, Severian is having life memories before he falls asleep.
> while there is obviously the potential for Thecla memories to intermix here, this following passage is still confusing:
> 
> "I played again with pebbles in the courtyard beside the fallen curtain wall, as Thecla dodged the hooves of my father's mounted guard."
> 
> Who's Father?
> 
> Do any of the other 'interruptions' from Thecla's memory happen mid sentence like this?  I searched the archives and found that this was suggested.
> I find it problematic that the narrative voice would change in mid sentence. 
> Even if the memory is Thecla's why would she be dodging the feet of her father's guard?

I think it's likely that Thecla here is a typo for her sister's name 
Thea.  But the really interesting thing is not only is Thecla's memory 
roused to the first person at the time of the original reverie, but 
apparently manifests once again years later during the writing of the 
manuscript.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >



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