From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: (whorl) [SPOILERS] In Green's Jungles, first thoughts
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2000 23:19:09 

Fernando Q. Gouvea wrote:
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> **** On Sun, 23 Jul 2000 14:55:35 -0700, Adam Stephanides <adamsteph@earthlink.net> said:
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> Adam> Fernando Q. Gouvea wrote:
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> True, there's something here that's unclear. But it's impossible to imagine
> that Horn hasn't looked himself in a mirror!

Do they have mirrors on Blue?  I don't remember, but the level of
technology is low enough that it's possible that they don't.  But if
they do, it reinforces my point.  If Horn were in Silk's body, he should
know it.  But there's no indication that he does, and some indication
that he doesn't.

> >> Fava is not really an inhuma, as the "astral projection" sections
> >> reveal.
> 
> Adam> Fava is really an inhuma, as is Jahlee.  Their spirits are human in
> Adam> appearance because they absorb their intelligence and personalities
> Adam> from the humans whose blood they drink.
> 
> Yes, of course. I was using "really" in the sense "not physically, but in
> spirit", just as Horn is Horn, not physically, but in spirit.

I realized it was a technicality when I wrote it.  But by your
reasoning, no inhumi would "really" be inhumi, since presumably they
would all appear "in spirit" as whatever species they have absorbed the
nature of.

> >> There's a lot of Christian imagery too, from the "unknown God" of the
> >> Neighbors to the Eucharist at the stone table.
> 
> Adam> Why do you see the Neighbors' unknown god [it's lower-case in the
> Adam> book] as Christian?
> 
> My point was just that using the phrase brings in Christian associations
> and images, not that one should literally read it as Christian. When
> St. Paul preached in Athens, according to the book of Acts, he was
> disgusted by the polytheism of the Greeks but noted that one of their
> temples was dedicated "to an unknown god". In his sermon, he explains that
> this is the God he is talking about. So the phrase rings a bell, especially
> when used in a context where one is talking about religious contact between
> two different cultures.

Ah.  That's what I get for presuming to discuss religion in Wolfe
without having read the New Testament.

--Adam

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