From: Michael Richman <mrichman@cybernex.net>
Subject: (whorl) Welcome Rostrum
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 00:35:40 


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

>From: m.driussi@genie.com
>Subject: (whorl) Welcome Rostrum
>Date: Fri,  6 Jun 97 16:34:00 GMT
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>
>Re: light of ship's engines.  Hmmm.  Now I could'a sworn that what
>Silk was seeing was the short sun "rising" over the "horizon" of the
>spinning Whorl.  Silk makes the (quite Platonic, imho) leap of
>associating the Outsider with the short sun, the big white fire that
>fills him with fear.
>

I believe a member of the crew explains that flash as a restart of the Long
Sun, which can only be started at full power.

>
>Re: gods and the powers they grant.  This is a tricky issue,
>wondering how a Love goddess can be a War goddess.  It is clearly one
>of the important puzzles of the series.  And, as we've been
>discussing, it seems that there is give and take among the gods and
>between gods and humans, etc., further blurring identities and
>abilities.
>

Kypris isn't really a God of Love; she is a cybercopy of Typhon's courtesan.
The real Kypris was probably a confident and uninhibited person; two
personality traits Mint was sorely lacking.  It is Mint's own intelligence
and courage, the borrowed cajones, and the public endorsement of a goddess
and of Silk that make her an effective general.


Michael Richman
380 Homans Av
Closter, NJ  07624
mrichman@bc.cybernex.net