From: "Nicholas Gevers" <potto@webmail.co.za>
Subject: (urth) The Green Man and Agia
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 18:26:53 +0200

I was a little surprised to read of people stumped by the precise (or
deeper) meaning of the green man's prophecy of Severian finding Agia
above ground. I've thought all along that there is a typical Wolfean
ambiguity here: soon after the scene in the showman's tent, Severian
searches for Thecla underground; as a genuine prophet, the green man
is a) warning Severian that the woman he will in fact be searching for
is not the dead Thecla, but Agia (the true author of "Thecla's
letter"), who is still alive (unburied, above ground) and will be
waiting in ambush for Severian outside the caverns (above ground); and
b) that the woman he will believe he is searching for, Thecla, after
proving not to be in the caverns (below ground) will be resurrected
through the alzabo ritual as part of Severian (again, alive, above
ground).
//--------------------------------------
Nicholas Gevers
potto@webmail.co.za
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