(urth) Five Severians

[David Stockhoff]

On 12/16/2013 10:48 AM, Lee wrote:
> Naming Severian's father "Ouen" (Welsh form of Eugene) may
> also make a similar point.

I did not know that! Sounds almost like "good Gene." Or, maybe, "good 
/gene/."

I want to repost here Mantis' workup of parallels between BNS and 
Wolfe's life (perhaps you meant to include it, or you sent it as an 
attachment?). For the most part it shows that there is more than one way 
to plot a story (and Wolfe uses all of them at once!), but it does give 
us a pattern that, while not "explaining" much, does provide a little 
meaning behind the names (even if just an origin).

The Citadel of the Autarch = Texas A & M.
Valeria = Rosemary Dietsch.
Atrium of Time = the Dietsches' (front/back)yard in Peoria, Illinois 
A.D. 1935.
Jolenta = Marilyn Monroe (Wolfe saw her when she visited the troops).
Triskele = Snooper the dog (one paw crushed by tread).
Pelerines = Red Cross girls.
Pyrotechnic polearms = B.A.R. and the Chinese Forward Observers that 
Wolfe saw burned to death by flamethrowers on Hill Chinese 200.
Agia's ploy at Mine = prostitutes working out of caves.
Erebus = USSR (aiding/directing North Korea).
Abaia = Communist China (aiding/directing North Korea).
Ascia = North Korea.
Nessus = Seoul ("there was a time when they [Ascians] laid waste to 
Nessus" [IV, ch. 24]; i.e., at beginning of Korean War, Seoul was overrun
Vodalus = Howard Hughes-like anarcho-aristocrat.
Baldanders = the Atomic Bomb (Little Boy/Fat Man) [especially check out 
that mushroom cloud formation when flying saucer is parked over his tower].
Typhon = Gen. MacArthur, "American Caesar" as well as "Arthur awakened 
from the mountain where he sleeps."
Kim Lee Soong = K-92, one of Wolfe's Korean "katusa" pals.
Jonas = Algis Budrys and/or Hawkeye of M.A.S.H. fame.
I, CLAUDIUS = one of the books Wolfe re-read at the front.
The 18th Bacele of Irregular Contarii = the 1st Battallion of the 17th 
[attention 17 watchers!] Infantry (Wolfe's unit).
Orinthyia = Porkchop Hill.
The Samru = troopship Marine Phoenix, which brought Wolfe back to the US 
(May 18, 1954).
Marriage to Valeria/ascent to the throne = Marriage to Rosemary (A.D. 
1956) and conversion to Roman Catholocism.

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