(urth) Father Inire as Dionysus

[Jerry Friedman]

>From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
>>why does a doctor know so much about Commonwealth politics, 
>>mythology, eschatology and genesis and cosmic history (not to 
>>mention Severian's mother)?
>
>>Andrew Mason: He knows about Carina, who either is Severian's mother 
>>or is somehow symbolically linked with her - I don't see that he has 
>>to know that she is Severian's mother....Regarding his knowledge in 
>general, sometimes I wonder if he has read the Book of the New Sun
>
>I'm not following this. HOw does a doctor, created and bred solely to
>minister to Baldanders, know of the Contessa Carina? He lives in a remote
>place.

He's traveled a good deal.

>He is not supposed to be privy to the lives of exultants nor the 
>politics of the House Absolute

Are we told something about Dr. Talos's knowledge of those subjects?

>and Carina is not found in Severian's writings 
>(except, of  course as a contribution from Talos, himself).
>
>Talos' play contains cosmic knowlege of the past and future of a type known
>only to a very few others such as Malrubius and Cyriaca's mysterious uncle.
>I cannot ignore the source of this knowledge for each of these characters 
>as an important literary clue to the subtext of the story.

...

Famulimus says that Baldanders "hoards up past lore".  I see no obstacle to Dr. T.'s knowing this lore too.  He must know the medical parts.  As for Cyriaca's uncle, there's no reason to ignore her statement that his knowledge came from books, specifically one that hadn't been opened for a chiliad, he thought.

Jerry Friedman