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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Some, at least, of the references to lame
characters in Tim Powers' books refer to the Fisher King. One can
certainly find some echoes of the various Fisher King myths in BotNS, but
whether these are intended I am not certain. It's always easy to find some
resemblances to any complex mythos, particularly one whose strands are as vague
and confusing as those of the Fisher King.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>For what it's worth, though, we do see a wounded
king (Severian, the Autarch, or both) in a wounded land (the
Commonwealth). The wound of the Fisher King may be in the groin or the
leg, suiting the Autarch or Severian. The state of the land is linked to
the state of the king; we can at least tie the state of the Commonwealth to the
hubris of an earlier ruler. There is certainly a Grail in BotNS (the White
Fountain). Of course there are distinct differences too, and each story
has many elements that would be hard to relate to the other. So
I mention it, but I am not at all convinced that any intentional reference
exists.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Less fancifully, we can take Severian's lameness as
a lesser echo of the old Autarch's castration. Or we can simply
put it in the context of sacrifice, or battle wounds. Severian's face
is also badly scarred.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>- Gerry Quinn</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jbjordan4@cox.net href="mailto:jbjordan4@cox.net">James B. Jordan</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>IIRC it's also in The Hero as Werewolf.<BR>At 03:07 PM
6/15/2011, you wrote:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face="Arial, Helvetica">In a message dated 6/15/2011 2:41:10
P.M. Central Daylight Time, <A
href="mailto:kierkegaurdian@gmail.com">kierkegaurdian@gmail.com</A>
writes:<BR> <BR>> I just finished Peace (which was absolutely
wonderful) and<BR>> am now reading the last half of The Book of the Long
Sun.<BR>> I noticed when reading Peace, one short sentence in which<BR>>
the narrator references his bad leg, which is dragging<BR>> behind
him. Of course, Severian is famously lame, and<BR>> for the larger
portion of Long Sun, Patera Silk has a<BR>> wounded leg that is mentioned
several times. I was<BR>> wondering what people thought the
significance is, and<BR>> if there were other protagonists in Wolfe novels
who<BR>> are lame.<BR> <BR>My guess, without looking at it closely,
would be that Wolfe might have Genesis 3 in mind. In God's curse on the
serpent, we read that he will impose enmity between the serpent and the woman
and between the serpent's seed (offspring) and the woman's seed (offspring),
an enmity which will culminate this way: "He will bruise/crush your head and
you will bruise/crush his heel." <BR> <BR>I'll let others
carry these thoughts further if they wish. (By the way, this sort of
imagery is also present, even more strongly, in the works of Tim Powers.
How many of Powers' characters are wounded in their heads, hands, and feet in
the course of the story?)</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>