From: "James Wynn" 
Subject: RE: (urth) male hyacinth: necessity
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2002 15:31:45 -0500

Matthew Malthouse said
If one posits that Hyacinth is ex-male, male , chem male or female one has
to answer what purpose it serves.  More what purpose would it serve to
have Silk fall in love with such a being.  That would seem contrary to
Wolfe's normal path in such matters and would require explanation.

It serves four purposes that I know of at this time:

1. It falls in line with the "artificiality" and "imitation" in the sense of
"blasphemy" the fills Wolfe's Whorl:
--The Whorl is an artificial inside-out parody of Urth constructed in
imitation the Urth
-- Chems are artificial imitations of humanity
-- Silk and IMO Chenille are artificial humans created in a test-tube
-- The "gods" are artificial Mainframe interfaces in imitation of the Urth
royal family
-- Silk's religion is an artificial inside-out parody of "the
	official" religion Typhon's state and the ancient
	Greek religious cults.
-- The undercover inhumi walk about disguised as humans upon whom they prey

2. It exemplifies good sense of imitation in the theme in which something
"artificially imitates" an original and "in some sense" becomes that
original.

3. It exemplifies the themes of the love affair between Christ and the
Church (see my essay "Apocalypse of the New Sun") and parallel theme of the
love affair of Apollo and Hyacinthus. Both these background stories involve
a love affair between a divine being and a created being created in the
divine being's image.

4. Finally, it emphasizes a concomitant theme in which a created being
imitates a its creator in whose image it is created (this is Thelx's Mirrors
which reflect the reflecting pool).

:-D
-- Crush




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