I wanted to slow down and do this chapter by itself for a number of reasons. First among them is because this chapter presages a transition in the narrative structure and style.
While the first fourteen chapters are essentially a bildungsroman, we begin to shift here into something a bit different.
One thing that marks this difference is that much of this chapter is concerned with dreams.
Dreams!
How odd to go from the concrete nature of all the previous chapters, where Severian is dealing with the material and social reality of being a torturer, his friendships, his love, to this chapter which is largely about a dream whose significance is quite opaque.
These women of his dreams are like enormous selkies who want to mate with Abaia. What the hell is Abaia?
Well, in Melanesian mythology, it’s an enormous magical eel.
I hope that clears things up!
The wooden man—well, we may look at all of these things as foreshadowing or in some way significant. To be honest, even reading this book for the third time, I can’t really say how important any of this is or even if it helps build the world better. But there is a brief glimpse into what some of this may mean.
When Baldanders wakes, finally, he blames Severian for his dreams. What dreams did he have?
Of caverns below, where stone teeth dripped blood…Of arms dismembered found on sanded paths, and things that shook chains in the dark.
Hope that clears things up!
There’s some clear imagery related to torture, or at least imagery we can understand that way, I think. So perhaps Baldanders had dreams of torture because of Severian, which may mean that Severian’s dreams are related to Baldanders.
The constant question thrumming when we come upon scenes like this should be why is Severian telling this to us?
And there is no answer for you yet. Even for me, my third time through, I’m not entirely sure. I have some thoughts about what this might all mean, but I really don’t know.
Is this a strength or a weakness?
I think to some degree, Wolfe is just having fun here. He throws in wild monsters, an aquatic dreamscape, and then throws Severian into a room with a giant and a strange little man.
Outside of the dream, the only other pieces of information that seem important are the fact that Severian’s presence freaks people the fuck out and that Dr Talos and Baldanders are some kind of traveling show.
Dr Talos, small with wild red hair, and Baldanders, the biggest man Severian has ever seen, who fills up a bed even with his knees drawn up to his chin.
In some ways, this chapter barely holds itself together as a single idea. And so I view it as a sort of gateway. Yes, he left the Citadel in the previous chapter, but this is really where he enters the world beyond the Citadel, beyond his childhood.
Now he must make his own way, alone. Dr Talos latches onto him quickly, no doubt, because of his frightening appearance. Also, no doubt, because he seems nonplussed by Baldanders, as if he sees giants every dang day.
So for now, consider this chapter a deep breath. Yes, not much has happened and, yes, what did happen is kind of confounding, but now we’re heading out into the rest of Severian’s life.
Next week, we’ll read Chapters XVI through XVIII.
Glossolalia - A Le Guinian fantasy novel about an anarchic community dealing with a disaster
Sing, Behemoth, Sing - Deadwood meets Neon Genesis Evangelion
Howl - Vampire Hunter D meets The Book of the New Sun in this lofi cyberpunk/solarpunk monster hunting adventure
Colony Collapse - Star Trek meets Firefly in the opening episode of this space opera
The Blood Dancers - The standalone sequel to Colony Collapse.
Iron Wolf - Sequel to Howl.
Sleeping Giants - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse and The Blood Dancers
Broken Katana - Sequel to Iron Wolf.
Libertatia; or, The Onion King - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse, The Blood Dancers, and Sleeping Giants
Noir: A Love Story - An oral history of a doomed romance.
House of Ghosts - Standalone sequel to Libertatia; or, the Onion King
Wolfe borrowed Abaia for his own devices the same way H.P. Lovecraft took Dagon for the same reason.
I only hope Abaia isn't an electric eel...
Baldanders and Dr. Talos are such a beguiling pair, because they feel more "real" than a lot of what happens in Shadow and in Claw, more grounded somehow. They are recurring, and relatively easy to comprehend, at least on a surface level. But what is the significance of their traveling show? Why are they such a completely cartoonish duo? Why does Severian keep hanging out with them?
I've just recently read their play near the end of Claw and, well, as with everything else in BotNS so far, I'm relieved but also sort of mystified that it doesn't necessarily make any more sense to people reading the book for the fifth or sixth time than it did for me reading it for the first time.
BotNS is just a dream that you're awake for.