<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">De-lurking to say that I've been
reading this thread and was playing around with two other theories
about the mausoleum. I don't think they're right, but I'll put
them out here for what they're worth:<br>
<br>
First, it's a family mausoleum, but I can't get that one to fit
(too many of Severian's relatives still alive during the BotNS to
account for 2 open coffins).<br>
<br>
The other theory is that - since mausolea were typically tombs for
deceased leaders of importance, then the mausoleum is built for
the bodies of those brave autarchs who chose to face the test on
Yesod. Two coffins are open and unoccupied (Severian's and the
current Autarch) because those two are still alive. Ymar was the
last autarch before the current one to be tested, so his body is
in one of the closed coffins, leaving two other Autarchs prior to
Ymar who were tested and failed in the other 2 closed coffins.<br>
<br>
Paul<br>
<br>
On 20/12/13 17:01, Michael Thayer wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHS3GWexHFPEtsdmKp3eF3+vBJHHH9_vMxE902hJ6N8He8T+Hg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div> </div>
<div>>David Stockhoff: It's possible that only he can see
it, but . . . (b) the wildlife find it easily enough . . .</div>
<div> </div>
<div>My reading is quite the contrary one. We are told that the
wildlife cannot "hear" or "scent" Severian as he watches them
through the mausloeum window, though some animals come "two
cubits from [his] face." Shadow, 12. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>>David Stockhoff: Another point that just occurred to
me. We do need to follow Occam's Razor. Therefore,<br>
---Any theory that proposes something as complicated as, say,
a<br>
laboratory hidden in time that has cloning and mind-control
technology<br>
and that grows and programs cloned puppets to insert them into<br>
manipulated time streams is just too complicated.<br>
---A coffin-corpse mausoleum theory only needs to explain how
corpses<br>
get in. A clone-storage mausoleum theory needs to explain not
only how<br>
they got in, but how they will get out. And besides, any
mechanism that<br>
could do both probably would not need clone storage in the
first place.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I agree with your method. The only question is whether a
hidden clone laboratory dislocated in time is the simplest
explanation. For instance, it would be a mistake to conclude
that the Citadel is a traditional citadel rather than a
spaceport just because the citadel is the simpler explanation
of the two. In tBotnS, a castle tower is not a castle
tower at all, but a space rocket. A poor traveler is not a
poor traveler, but a marooned robot from the distant past with
a human face grafted onto his metallic body. A
two-headed demonic monster is not a two-headed demonic
monster, but a former intergalactic hegemon who has had his
head surgically grafted onto another's body to extend his own
biological viability. Witches (a witch at least, the
Cumaen) and sirens (Juturna and the other undines) are not
witches and sirens, but space aliens meddling in human
affairs. A divine prophet from the past is not a divine
prophet from the past, but a machine-projected time-traveler
recently returned from beyond this solar system. The entire
conceit of the novel is that the setting appears to be that
of ancient myth and medieval high fantasy, but it is in fact a
far future hyper-techno space age. In light of this, I think
we should exercise caution in slicing away,
Occam-style, the possibility that a mausoleum is something
more than a mausoleum, especially where that mausoleum is
imbued with such import and strangeness.</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Urth Mailing List
To post, write <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:urth@urth.net">urth@urth.net</a>
Subscription/information: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.urth.net">http://www.urth.net</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
</body>
</html>