(urth) traveling north

[Jeff Wilson]

On 6/11/2010 5:30 PM, Jane Delawney wrote:
> Have remembered a couple of other points which gave me pause regarding
> compass directions back when I last read this work. The first was the
> description of Sev's journey to the Last House and back. He is clearly
> described as travelling with his shadow before him, a phenomenon which
> can only be observed in the southern hemisphere when travelling
> southward.

?? A pedestrian's shadow can lay to the westward in the morning and to 
the eastward in the evening.


> Also there is the (probably quite small) point of the identity - if any!
> - in our world of *The Eight*, a constellation which Sev notes consists
> only of three stars (so the reason for its name is a mystery to him) and
> which is circumpolar about whichever pole :) he may have observed in his
> hemisphere throughout his life. Any views on this?

Octans, the octant. It doesn't actually form a 45 deg angle now (1/8 of 
a circle), and apparently not in Severian's time either or the name 
wouldn't puzzle him.

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
IEEE Student Chapter Blog at
< http://ieeetamut.org >