<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); ">On Jan 27, 2011, at 5:40 AM, Lee Berman <<a href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">severiansola@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><br></div><div><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span></span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span>Son of Witz: I don't see any reason to suggest he is a woman though. Wasn't that what you said, Lee?</span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><span>I have said that if the old person is seen as a woman some important things about this story are clarified</span><br><span>for me. I also cited two specific collections of items from the text which allow and even suggest this character </span><br><span>could be a woman.</span><br><span></span><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>This is what I see as the two specific citings</div><div><br></div><div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; ">1. Nobody in Casdoe's family ever mentions the old person. The neglect was always a clue sign for me. It avoids </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span>the use of gender-revealing pronouns.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span>2. The old person speaks so admiringly and longingly of Fechin you might think there was a homosexual attraction- </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><br></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; "><span>unless it was hetero-"</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium;"><br></span></div><div><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium;">Sure. Beacan COULD be a woman, but nothing you mention suggests it is likely. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium;">I work with what is written more than what is not written. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium;"><br></span><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>Your responses have been:</span><br><span></span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span>I think you are putting way too much into these imagined gender confusions and homosexual guesses. </span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span>If they meant anything, they would reverberate through the subtext.</span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span>I think while you are sniffing for clues, you might be missing the extremely potent symbolism...</span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><span></span><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>My response was also, "sorry to offend"</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>So you are saying my efforts to understand the story are misguided and a waste of time and meaningless. </span><br><span>I should be devoting myself to the correct interpretation not this rubbish.</span><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Nope. The only advice I've given Lee Berman is to not get so upset when people knock down your idea. My comment about working with what is written rather than what is not written is something I address to this list at large. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><blockquote type="cite"><span>Here is a perfect example of an alternate reading that is absolutely suportable with the text.</span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><span>You challenged my idea that there might be gender blendings and confusions in BotNS and I took the time</span><br><span>to list quite a few examples of them. The result seems to have been a waste of time. You are still insisting</span><br><span>my ideas are self-invented and have no basis in the text.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Contrast that with Mr. Thalassocrat's theories which propose "Magic Genes", an invented family in Nessus sired </span><br><span>by Casdoe's father, Fechin as the patriarch of Severian's family, angels as demons and Severian as a moral </span><br><span>cripple.</span><br><span></span></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Fuck this business of claiming I'm insisting anything of you, Lee. I don't.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I don't know about Thallasocrats magic genes. I was reponding to the portion of his theory which I quoted, which is all I read of it, as he responded to my post. I don't know about the rest, but his statements that I quoted work for me.</div><div><br></div></div><div>It seems like you just want to argue. I appologized and have said many times that I value your contributions. I will ignore further any further attempts to drag this out. </div></body></html>