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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=dstockhoff@verizon.net
href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">David Stockhoff</A> </DIV>
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style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">On
12/17/2011 8:04 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote:<BR><BR>> > Sure, but you seem to be
saying that it IS what happened too. If <BR>> > you’re not, what’s the
point in your fix? What exactly is the status <BR>> > of this “other
narrative” you mention, and what are Severian’s powers <BR>> > like in
it?<BR><BR>> Yes, it IS what happened "too." The first read/surface story is
that <BR>> Dorcas was never dead and Severian has no powers (but may have the
role <BR>> of a fairy-tale hero to whom lucky things like this happen). The
second <BR>> read/understory is that Dorcas was dead and Severian raised
her.<BR></DIV></DIV>
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style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: none">The
first read is that a mystery woman appears at the lake. The second read is
that Severian raised her. Neither read involves an enchantment.
There is no read that she was enchanted and never dead: there is a vague
resonance with the story of Sleeping Beauty, and the idea that she was enchanted
and never dead comes from taking that seriously. That idea interferes
destructively with character and narrative, and so it fails to exist in the
story. To put it another way, it didn’t happen, any more than Talos
stabbed Baldanders in the back when he was about to kill Severian. Just
because I thought of that last thing doesn’t mean it’s really there.</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> As has been said a million times, BNS draws from and subverts
dozens of <BR>> genres and narrative modes. Identifying those is part of the
analysis. <BR>> To some degree they cloak (as in "hide" but also "dress up")
the <BR>> understory. But they also tell us what's being subverted and thus a
clue <BR>> as to why. It's not a question of "if Dorcas is Sleeping Beauty,
then <BR>> who's the witch"? There is no poisoned apple. But if there is a
witch, <BR>> it's Severian.</DIV>
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<DIV>The story of Sleeping Beauty involves witches and poisoned apples
now? It only remains for Lee to propose that Father Inire is all of the
Seven Dwarfs. But anyway, that error is not important, but it points to
the real error: you neither know nor care whether you are talking about Sleeping
Beauty or Snow White, because you are just riffing on stuff in your head which
has completely lost contact with the text.</DIV>
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<DIV>To say Dorcas reminds you of Sleeping Beauty is one thing. But you
have to recognise that the correspondences that would justify a real connection
simply aren’t there. And so “they also tell us what's being subverted and
thus a clue as to why“ is meaningless. Because only things with real
connections tell us that.<BR><BR>> But he is still a "lucky Fool" to whom
things happen---otherwise, how to <BR>> swallow the coincidence that his
first Lazarus is his hot grandmother?</DIV>
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<DIV>Actually, his first Lazarus was a bit of a dog.</DIV>
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<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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