(urth) Wolfe's brilliance or my denseness?

[Jack Smith]

I did not realize it and I think that's what Wolfe intended.  He wants her
identify to be obscured.   Look at the mysterious note that Severian finds
in the Inn of Lost Loves.  The mystery is not resolved until Book 4.
 Severian and the reader don't know who Dorcas is until the end of the story




On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 5:45 PM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com> wrote:

> not even the tip of the ice berg.  I think the first time I read these I
> was in the fourth or fifth grade and missed it until later, too, but that
> recognition makes the later little note in the Inn make complete sense.  but
> I don't think knowing what I do now its even touching the surface of how
> clever and cryptic he can be when he cares to.  there are far less obvious
> things like that I would swear up and down are true but Wolfe is a clever
> fellow, always.
>
>
> --- On *Sat, 5/21/11, Jason H <beet31425 at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
>  Did you know "Cas" was Dorcas right away?
>
> I didn't. When I read these books the first time, I didn't realize that
> Dorcas had been one of the lake's dead until it was spelled out in the third
> book, and didn't realize she was the sought-after Cas until the fourth book.
> I read these books pretty carefully-- I knew the towers were rockets right
> away, I picked up on little inconsistencies in the narrative... but I missed
> this connection completely.
>
>  In retrospect, it's totally obvious! The chapter in Shadow is called
> "Dorcas", for heaven's sake, and we're told someone is looking for a "Cas",
> and then a mysterious Dorcas appears. How can I not have immediately
> realized who she was? Of course, the first time through, we don't even know
> he has the Claw on him (let alone what it can do), and it's perhaps
> unintuitive to mentally pair the old man with the young Dorcas.
>
> So I'm really curious to know whether I was just being dense, or whether
> Wolfe was being particularly brilliant-- and audacious-- by setting up a
> connection which he somehow knew people wouldn't make right away, despite
> its obviousness later on.
>
> I'm therefore curious to know: Was this obvious to you back in Shadow as
> soon as Dorcas appeared?
>
>
> -Jason
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
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-- 
Best wishes,
Jack
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