(urth) The Two Coins
Lee Berman
severiansola at hotmail.com
Sat Aug 14 06:40:31 PDT 2010
>Gerry Quinn:
>No, there was positive ID from Ouen's locket, and lots of supporting
>evidence. Also the narrator plays detective and finds this out with no
>particular reason for us to doubt it, which IMO is a literary signal that
>this is canon.
>The hypothesis that Dorcas is Severian's grandmother has distinctive
>characteristics that many such hypotheses lack...
That Severian seems to be actively investigating his family tree does add
a somewhat unique aspect to this puzzle. Boatman as grandfather, Ouen as
father and Holy Katharine maid as mother joins in this aspect. (I must
wonder why the Boatman, alone, remains unnamed).
Perhaps we were only meant to identify these four guys and and no other family
members. Perhaps identifying sister Severa was always meant as a red herring.
I admit I'd rather assume Wolfe is not so generous to his readers with
Clupea rosea. Especially since I find plausible candidates for sister,
aunt and cousins. But no way to know for sure.
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