From: Michael Straight <straight@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth)  Re:  Torturers as priests
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 17:24:08 

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, mary whalen wrote:

> Lastly, I just read on the Whorl archive list that when Gene Wolfe was
> asked the question of "Is there a past, current, or future member of
> the Order of Seekers of Truth and Penitence on the Whorl?", he says
> "Yes, Silk.
> "  I take it to mean that Silk is a member of this order because he's
> a priest/worshipper of the Outsider (God), and this seems to indicate
> that the torturers are, too.

I always interpreted that remark as Wolfe playing with the ambiguity of
the phrase "Seekers of Truth and Penitence."  Silk is literally such a
seeker in the sense of seeking truth and his own penitence, whereas for
the torturers guild it's somewhat of a euphemism (although literally true
for them too).

Also, the "all men are torturers" theme gives Wolfe lots of wiggle room.

-Rostrum


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