(urth) traveling north

Jane Delawney jane_delawney at sky.com
Wed Jun 2 15:49:04 PDT 2010


Just a quick question (I hope) it's really late at night where I am :)

There seems to be a general assumption (unless I've read it wrong, which 
would not be the first time of course as some of you have already 
noticed :) - both Borski and Andre-Driussi appear to support the idea) 
that the setting of BOTNS is South America. At one point (sorry I can't 
be more specific without looking stuff up in detail, I don't have time 
right now, I'm sure one of you will know the place) it's stated outright 
by one of these writers that Nessus is 'almost certainly Buenos Aires'.

This would mean that as Severian & co. journey to Thrax & beyond, they 
are moving northward in the southern hemisphere.

However, when Severian takes directions from the pampas herdsman for his 
journey (directions which will lead him straight into the Stone Town of 
course) the herdsman instructs him to travel northwest ... 'with the sun 
over your right shoulder in the morning and in your left eye in the 
evening' or very similar phrasing.

Perfect directions for a journey north-westwards in the *northern* 
hemisphere.

With the current planetary orbit and polar configuration, surely it is 
simply not possible to travel northward in the southern hemisphere with 
the sun *behind* you, which is evidently what Severian is doing.

What is going on here? Many apologies if this is a topic which has been 
done to death in the past btw. My initial reaction is that the usage of 
'north' and 'south' in Severian's world does not entirely coincide with 
ours, that there has been a magnetic reversal event or similar, and that 
for sure Severian is travelling northwards in *his* southern hemisphere 
... but that this is not the same as our southern hemisphere. Perhaps 
the Commonwealth is North America or Eurasia after all; and Ascia, South 
America or Africa.

As I've mentioned on list previously I'm currently  part way through my 
first read of this book for fifteen years. Would be most interested to 
hear if there is any further information out there regarding this little 
puzzle (for instance, I have so far taken less notice than I might have 
done of any mention of the positions of stars from Severian's point of 
view - though there is apparently a constellation called the Cross, this 
could as easily refer to our Swan (Cygnus) as to the Southern Cross. Not 
to mention that star positions relative to Urth may not be quite the 
same as they are to our Earth.

got to go, goodnight and thanks for your patience if you have read this.

jd.



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