Kevin's Watch

So I was re-reading Shadow of the Torturer last night, and I noticed something. Severian claims on several occasions that his memory is perfect and that he forgets nothing.

Yet, at one point in Shadow of the Torturer, Severian is walking with Agia (in the Garden of Endless Sleep, IIRC). At this point, he's mentioned that he told her about Thecla's death and his grief over it, yet he says something to Agia like "Have I told you about the Chatelaine Thecla?", and she of course says that he has told her already.

I never caught this until now, but that struck me as rather odd. If he supposedly doesn't forget anything, why would he evidently have forgotten that he told Agia about Thecla? I'm wondering if Wolfe blundered or if that was an intentional slip-up to give the reader a clue that Severian's memory may not be as reliable as he thinks it is.

::shrug::

I suspect that we're to doubt everything. After all, at the end of the books Severian himself suggests that he may have made the whole story up.

Anyway: In this point, I'm not sure it's a slip. He seems to have some tendancy to talk on and on and not really pay attention to what he's saying (even if he can recall every word later on). As he says *cough*copout*cough* - he remembers everything, but it doesn't always come to mind immediately.

Murrin wrote:I suspect that we're to doubt everything. After all, at the end of the books Severian himself suggests that he may have made the whole story up.

Anyway: In this point, I'm not sure it's a slip. He seems to have some tendancy to talk on and on and not really pay attention to what he's saying (even if he can recall every word later on). As he says *cough*copout*cough* - he remembers everything, but it doesn't always come to mind immediately.

I'd be surprised if Wolfe had made a mistake, but your observation that Severian seems to ramble quite a bit is spot-on and certainly a plausible explanation for his appearing to "forget". I've been guilty of the same thing on occasion...

It's because Severian is an imperfect narrator. It follows from that the theme of the book is to challenge perceptions; so must we contend with the fact that Severian does make mistakes, lies or deceives himself at times.