<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><STRONG><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f5f5f5" size=2 face=Tahoma></FONT></STRONG>
<DIV><BR>> > larry miller: Id say that Jolenta is a better candidate for
Severa<BR>> > than any other female character in the book. Yes the
fact that we <BR>> > never know her real name is a clue that Wolfe is
hiding something.<BR><BR><BR>> Agreed. If there was a witch character of the
right age named Severa, <BR>> we wouldn't be having this discussion. Even if
we ignore the theme of<BR>> incest (which we should not do, imho), are there
any other characters<BR>> who are Severian's age and who might be named
Severa and who might have<BR>> been raised with witches? I think only (stage
name) Jolenta fits that<BR>> bill.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Merryn might be Severian’s age for all we know. We know there is
something odd about her age; she looks both old and young, and one or other
appearance must be false. It might be the old appearance as easily as the
young. If Severian has a sister who is a character, I am pretty sure it is
Merryn. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jolenta is a waitress not a witch, and there’s no indication that she was
ever otherwise. Come to think of it, if she had been a witch she would
surely have been much more wary of Talos’s blandishments. And I can think
of no thematic reason why someone like Jolenta should be Severian’s
sister. </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>> Severian's travels resemble those of a clueless Greek hero
like<BR>> Oedipus, stumbling into situations of which he doesn't understand
the <BR>> significance. Oedipus had sex with his mother, an act that defined
him.<BR>> If he had sex with other women too, that does not make him any less
of<BR>> a motherf..well, you know. A pattern of incest among Severian's
mates<BR>> does not require that all his mates were family members.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It requires that more than one of them was. If you can demonstrate
that someone other than Jolenta or Dorcas is closely related to Severian, then
you can argue that a pattern exists and Jolenta might follow it. But if
you just have Jolenta and Dorcas, you are assuming what you want to prove.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If we just have Dorcas (the subject of a weird age distortion amounting to
time travel and therefore not really within the bounds of ‘normal’ incestuous
relationships anyway) there’s no pattern involved.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>And as we’ve seen, it’s very obvious that most of Severian’s lovers cannot
be close relations. And also that sex with Dorcas isn’t in any way a
defining characteristic of Severian’s story, as was the case with that of
Oedipus .<BR><BR>- Gerry Quinn</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>