The Claw of the Conciliator: Chapter V

The Bourne

Gene Wolfe is playing with us.

We are accustomed to various expectations whenever we pick up a novel. One is that things will probably work out. Another is that our protagonist will often make the correct decision or at least a decision leading him or her in the correct direction.

This is doubly true with Severian. For we know where he ends this story. He is the Autarch! A figure godlike in power and authority. We also have this sort of fetishization of memory. There’s a sense that better memory means higher intelligence, and so when we have a narrator with hyperthymesia, we implicitly buy into the concept that he is a genius.

And we do this despite Severian proving himself to be a big dumdum over and over. We saw it with Agia. We saw it with Thecla.

So when he receives a letter allegedly from Thecla, we expect him to drop everything and leave to find her. To presumably save her.

Before we get to the letter, Severian and Jonas describe the melancholia that descends upon the Torturer after completing his art, and this is a sort of justification that Severian gives us as to why he dropped everything and hurried to her.

But Severian, for all his faults and brutishness, is a bighearted boy in love with a woman destined for death. He cannot help himself and so he never once questions the authenticity of the letter.

And in many books, there would be no reason to.

And perhaps there’s no reason to here either!

Severian never questions what it might mean for Master Gurloes to be involved in this plot, let alone Father Inire. Nor does he ask why he must be exiled if it was known that what he did was expected and even necessary.

In this, he understands himself as one easily manipulated. The entire plot to free Thecla relied upon Severian being manipulated and led to do very predictable actions, such as sneaking away a knife to give to Thecla so that she might kill herself.

And so Severian, the narrator, is doubly showing us something. By giving us an example of Severian being manipulated, he’s also demonstrating his capacity to be manipulated. Of course, Severian of that past time would not realize he was perhaps being manipulated by still another.

It’s an interesting little chapter which functions primarily as a delivery mechanism for this letter. Funny enough, Severian abandoning his duties in Saltus for Thecla reflects what led to his expulsion from the Matachin Tower, showing us that Severian will do anything for love.

For this is love. At least to the degree that Severian can even understand love.

Though Severian speaks from the future, reflecting back upon his life, he is still quite young at this point in the narrative. Maybe 18-22.

Perhaps you remember being that age. The lengths we’d go. The fools we made of ourselves and everyone else. The ways we’d rush across town to see one another in the dark of night, the promises made, the quiet touches, the whispered words.

Severian is racing towards her for love. For need. To see her again.

Thecla does not command him to hurry or to get there tomorrow. Simply to come to her when he can. She even tries to sweeten the pot, perhaps believing that love is not enough, by mentioning the Autarch’s treasures that they can steal away.

But sweet impulsive Severian drops everything to go to her.

Speaking of everything—what the hell happened to Dorcas?

And why has Jonas become his companion instead?

Why did Severian jump over a few days and all that fell between the gates of Nessus and the inn in Saltus?

What happened there, in that brief stretch of time?

This chapter is largely setup for what follows but also a quick transition from the narrative quagmire of Saltus.

So let’s find out what the rest of this novel has in store for us.

Until next week!