(urth) Hut/Ultan's Library/Catherine

[Jeff Wilson]

James Wynn wrote:
>> "Again I seemed to hear bronze, and quite suddenly I felt that he
>> and I were dead, and that the darkness surrounding us was
>> grave soil pressing in about our eyes, grave soil through which
>> the bell called us to worship at whatever shrines may exist below
>> ground. The livid woman I had seen dragged from her grave
>> rose before me so vividly that I seemed to see her face in the
>> almost luminous whiteness of the figure who spoke. "
> 
>> Why weird? Ultan is a Vodalarian, and has eaten part of
>> the corpse. He is hardly a great exception.
> 
> "...and quite suddenly I felt that he and I were dead..."
> 
> I'm not sure I understand this explanation. At the time of this event, 
> Severian had not eaten any corpse; so, why did he feel that he himself 
> was dead? I suppose it is not absolutely required, but this pairing 
> seems to imply they were "were dead" for the same reason...whatever it was.

A few months ago we went over this - they meet in unlit underground 
tunnels, essentially catacombs for books instead of bodies. Ultan is 
also very much like the barrow wights or dwarves of the Norse epics, 
essentially a barely animated corpse guarding grave goods and other 
treasures.

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