(urth) Mystery of Ascia

[Son of Witz]

On Jan 20, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Andrew Mason <andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com> wrote:

> Son of Witz wrote: .
> 
>> Sure, I suppose I can swallow the asian androgeny bit. Severian describes her eyes as "strangely tilted" and her nose as upturned.  I think this is more or less safe to say she is asian or Ascian. The tilt would seem strange to him because they seem novel.
> 
> She may be Asian, but not Ascian. Wolfe has been quite insistent that
> Ascians are not Asian - they are North American. Asians are
> Xanthoderms or from the Xanthic lands.
> 


Hmmm,
Frankly, I think the comment is ass-covering in a PC era.
North Americans could very well be Asian by the time of the story.
Wolfe leans Libertarian. I've heard many a Libertarian express the concern/prediction that China will overtake the US in the near future.  Not implausible at all, really.
Clearly, these stand-ins for the "Godless Communists" embodied in Wolfe's life by the asians he combatted.  The description and name seems so asian to me I think Wolfe is just back-pedaling in the interview.

And, you know, Wolfe said "Green is Urth" as well, but that is routinely dismissed.

Isn't Halavard from the Xanthic lands? He seems Scandinavian.