(urth) The Claw

[Jane Delawney]

On 23/12/11 14:46, Lee Berman wrote:
>>> Jeff Wilson: Except that it only seems to work when the White Fountain is above the
>>> horizion.
>> Brian: Isn't there some sighting of the white fountain during the Apu-Punchau
>> scene?  If Severian's blood in both his body and the claw creates a
>> temporal anomaly that allows his powers, then perhaps the massive anomaly
>> created when he and Apu-Punchau touch is somehow part of the
>> whole...uh..."white fountain process".
>
> Well, Severian does see the White Fountain as he breaks out of Apu Punchau's tomb.
> Previous to that, Barbatus twice suggests to Severian that he will have access to
> the White Fountain power only when its light first reaches Urth. I assume that to
> mean the whole Urth, else his power would only work during a certain time of day.
> The White Fountain/Claw's power is never fully reliable but I don't get the sense
> the problem is related to Urth's turning. 	
Personally I've never been convinced by the 'powers only available after 
the White Fountain light reaches Urth / is above the horizon' theory 
(even though this is clearly posited in the text and appears for sure to 
be what [Wolfe tells us that] Severian believes) just because Sev / Apu 
Punchau performs miracles of healing (and resurrection? I forget. I 
don't have UOTNS in front of me now) from the time he arrives in the 
primitive village; it's part of why the villagers come to follow him in 
the first place.

Admitted that the most up-front 'miracle' of all, the failure of the 
sunrise, is caused by the Yesodis not by Severian; but Sev does 
elsewhere state explicitly that he performed healings and other works 
early in his stay in that era, and indeed I seem to remember he is 
actually puzzled by his ability to do this in the pre-White-Fountain era!

Perhaps the 'miraculous' powers are more part of Severian himself than 
even Severian realises.

jd