Date: Tue, 05 Mar 2002 09:21:23 -0600
From: Jeff Wilson 
Subject: (urth) Re: Digest from  urth@urth.net

> Thecla (p. 239) correction, she did not exactly take her own life to avoid another session with the revolutionary, rather, she did so to avoid further torment by
> the in-dwelling demon summoned by the device. 

	I think that this bears closer examination. Rather than a device that
literally summons demons (just as the Book contains hierodules rather
than literal angels), I think that the Rev is meant to be an
electroshock device of fiendish refinement that divides the brain by
damaging tissue electrically and leaves the non-speaking part greatly
resentful of the trauma and perhaps envious of the speaking part. 
	This would agree somewhat with studies of people who have had their
brains divided by damage or surgical severing of the corpus callosum,
which GW already used in "The Death of Doctor Island." This would
explain the image of the demon as having Thecla's face, since it is part
of herself. 
	The division of functions is not the same as that in the RL documented
procedure, but this can be attributed to the refinement of the device by
Urthly science, the general scientific accuracy of the Book, and perhaps
an effort on Wolfe's part to display an internal division within human
nature. The Revolutionary turns one against one's self by separating the
devil already inside from the mitigating moral conscience, or perhaps it
involves original sin.

-- 
Jeff Wilson
How Am I Posting? 1-800-555-6789
"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy." -Cpt Law


--