From: Peter Cash <cash@convex.convex.com>
Subject: (whorl) On top of the airship
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 13:56:30 


[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

CoxRathvon@aol.com wrote:
> Subject: on the airship
> Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 19:38:52 -0500

>    If I'm not mistaken, somebody has asked about the conversation between
> Silk and Horn on the top of the airship.  I'm not sure how many replies have
> been posted.  But I do feel that that conversation is key, and I find it very
> enigmatic.  Why is Silk suicidally depressed?  And what happened at the end
> of that conversation--did Horn begin to fall and did Mucor save him?
>    Let me suggest that among other things Silk has begun to suspect
> corruption in Pas's plan.  He may not specificaly suspect alien involvement
> in the plan.  But certainly--as he points out to Horn--he suspects that the
> cities of the Whorl have been separated and pitted against one another to
> prevent them from uniting against Pas.  I think that in this late hour of the
> story, Silk has despaired of all the Whorl gods, and it takes a mighty effort
> for him to retain his faith in the Outsider's more remote designs.

Perhaps insight into the true amount of corruption in the Whorl--and
Pas' plan--had a role in driving Silk to the point of suicide. I don't
think that was was the whole of it, though. After all, Silk's faith
should have been in the Outsider, who "enlightened" him, and not Pas;
the corruption of Pas and the other Gods is something Silk has had more
than a glimmering of by this time.

No, I think what really drove Silk to the edge was something more
personal. But I'm not clear about what it was.

>    But I do not understand the implications of Hycanith's falsity--that she
> overpowered a soldier and betrayed an ability (or something about her past)
> inconsistent with her claims about herself.  What am I missing here?  Can
> anyone help?  

I wish someone would--I'm as puzzled as you are. There was also the bit
where Hyacinth and Chenille reminisce about a fight they had when they
first became acquainted. There's some import to this that I can't
fathom.

Is Hyacinth perhaps an agent of the Trivigaunti? --That would put her
relationship with the Trivigaunti general on the airship in a different
perspective, and explain her hand-to-hand combat skills. Surely she
would have been an ideal operative, considering her charms and her
access to the ruling class of Vir. She was also in a position to work
closely with Dr. Crane, without exciting suspicion.

> And again, what is the culmination of this scene, when Horn
> appears to fall?

Yes, I'm still totally mystified by that scene. I originally got the
impression that Horn was pushed--by Mucor, and Silk grabbed him at the
last instant. But that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Was it
really Silk who fell (or jumped)? Then why does Horn hide this fact? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist.   
                  (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein)    
        email: cash at convex dot com (sorry, spam prevention)
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