From: "David Lebling" <dlebling@ucentric.com>
Subject: (whorl) FTP Pig; Clute's Review; Not Boredom
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 09:36:23 

1) Pig(Passilk) -> monitor -> Silk(Horn)? No.

From: "Patrick O'Leary" <poleary@sloth.cecom.com>
<<1. Passilk does not infiltrate Silk in Pig's Post-Op scene. Yes, there
is a monitor.>>

From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy@siebel.com>
<<4. At the West Pole, the scanned Silk reenters the body
-- *not* from Pig, but from the glass.>>

I agree with Patrick here. I've read that scene three or four times now, and
I don't see anything that indicates Passilk enters Silk/Horn's mind at this
point. There is no change in Silk/Horn's (or Pig's!) demeanor or style of
speech, no subtle hint, no nothing.

Some have argued that Passilk leaves Pig and then enters Silk/Horn. Bah.
Again, no evidence in favor.

Against, there is the fact that Horn talks about how if he had brought Pig
to Blue, he wouldn't have failed in his mission. When gods de-possess
humans, they leave. If Passilk went to Silk/Horn, he'd be gone from Pig, and
I think Silk/Horn would know, if only subconsciously, that such a transfer
had happened.

2) Horn Lives!

<<From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan@gnt.net>
>Though I should add an amusing personal note. Wolfe has read and deeply
>appreciates John Clute's
>SF Weekly Review of RTTW.
Well, that being the case, I must bow and admit that Horn is dead and Silk
lives. I was never certain, but I thought a case should be made for the
Horn Lives standpoint. I'll have to rethink a few categories...>>

I just reread Clute's review and I don't see where it says Horn is dead.
"Enfolded," yes, they "write each other," yes. The closest he comes to
saying Horn is dead is this: "By spending something like his life (but of
course he has been something like dead for most of the trilogy) Horn
succeeds in his quest and bids us farewell."

I don't think this plus "deeply appreciates" is enough to declare Horn dead.
Horn is dead in exactly the sense that Thecla, the old Autarch, and Pas
himself are dead: they exist as remnant identities in another medium. Horn
indeed bids us farewell at the end of RttW, but so does Silk.

3) Boredom?

From: <akt@attglobal.net>
<<It seems to me that, if GW should want to write another book about these
people (my guess is not, because he seems so tired of them at this
point--but you never know). it will be important to the plot to have the
dual Silk/Horn interface. Like having Windows and Linux on the same
machine.>>

(I deeply appreciate this comment, because I do have Windows and Linux on
the same box.)

But seriously, I take the disquisition by Hoof on how scary Silk was, and
Severian's comment that no one would believe him if he wrote about Silk, as
a way of expressing how hard it is for Wolfe to write about this character.
He may not be so much bored with him as exhausted by him. When you come
right down to it, would you rather spend an evening with Silk or with Horn?
Wolfe has spent a long time with this scary guy in his head.

Which brings up another thought. All of the "Sun" books are concerned to a
greater or lesser extent with authorship, writing, publishing, imagining,
and most importantly, the effect of having someone else's personality stuck
in your head for long periods. These are all the chief day-to-day concerns
of the writer, aside from where the next cup of coffee and next paragraph
are coming from. I'd love to see someone scan the books to pull these out as
a coherent essay. It would be fascinating. As Horn becomes more Silk-like
over time, has Wolfe? Wasn't there a reported comment by Wolfe's wife
Rosemary that Silk was the character most like Wolfe himself?

    Dave Lebling
    aka vizcacha




*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.
*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/
*To leave the list, send "unsubscribe" to whorl-request@lists.best.com
*If it's Wolfe but not Long Sun, please use the URTH list: urth@lists.best.com