{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/123", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 123, "subject": "Westwind", "messages": 2, "voices": 2, "first": "1997-07-26T07:30:40+00:00", "last": "1997-07-26T15:53:29+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Patri10629", "address": "patri10629 at aol.com" }, "date": "1997-07-26T07:30:40+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Westwind", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Starting reading this thread and stopped, picked up my copy of Storeys from\nthe Old Hotel and read \"Westwind.\"\n\nA lovely story.\n\nI get the feeling, as I always do with Wolfe, that there is much here that my\nfirst reading hasn't even begun to scan. So I offer these half-thoughts for\nwhat they're worth.\n\nThe Trademark Wolfean misdirection: Hints that Westwind is \"his eyes\" and, of\ncourse, it's the blind woman. But it's not. Or it is. But...\n\nThe dreary, dark and oppressive setting illuminated briefly by match flares\nof kindness and concern--so you really feel them, so they matter.\n\n I was particularly touched by the scarred man's conclusion (which he hid\nfrom the blind woman) that the man who molested her also tried to protect\nher. \"They are often the same man,\" the Ruler says. The struggle of Humans:\nFallen God Stuff.\n\nAnd how the benevolence of the Ruler seems incapable of relieving the general\nmisery. Free will, in other words.\n\nThe idea of \"getting away with something\", say, peeing in a stairwell when\nthe owner's not watching--the meager freedom and rebellion of the destitute.\nSin, in other words. \n\nAnd the poignant triviality of his spy's reports. Obviously, what news can\nyou possibly bring to an all-seeing ruler? Apparently. It's not about what\nthey say, it's about the fact that they have a relationship with him. Prayer,\nin other words. \n\nI can see how someone might pick up sinister undertones--Wolfe might be\nplaying with the Big Brother motif, as he often plays with SF tropes. But it\nseems to me that anything sinister comes from the setting, the\ncharacters--the sense of moral decay and poverty. It's hard for me to imagine\na truly benevolent ruler. Maybe that's why the Ruler's goodwill seems so\nshocking.\n\nAs for the deception: everyone with a \"communicator\" thinks they're the\nspecial emissary, Westwind, and everyone is. Is it a deception? This is an\nirony, and, perhaps, a mystery, and I suspect every believer, on some level,\n feels exactly the same way.\n\nClearly, the general misery of this reality is not resolved by benevolence or\nOmniscience; it is merely occasionally relieved. How sad. And, perhaps, how\ntrue.\n\n\nPatrick" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jim Jordan", "address": "jbjordan at gnt.net" }, "date": "1997-07-26T15:53:29+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re: Westwind", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tWestwind is a pretty loaded with symbolism, more or less specific.\n\n\tThe inn is the church.\n\tThe message from the Ruler is the reading of scripture.\n\tThe potential message from the Department of Truth is the sermon, which\nthe old woman says they don't need.\n\tThe game in 20 minutes is the standard Sunday afternoon ball game on tv.\n\tThe storm outside is the world and history.\n\tThe old woman is the church in person; she is lame, I suspect because she\nshares the messianic foot wound of Genesis 3. She's not all that pleasant,\nbecause after all, the Church is not all that great. She's redeemed; not\nperfect.\n\tThe scarred young man and young woman are people, injured by the world,\nseeking refuge in the Church.\n\tThe ham sandwich & coffee corresponds to communion after the scripture in\nworship. Ham because, after all, these is the Church, not the Synagogue.\n\tHigh water everywhere: outside is not just the storm of history, but also\na flood.\n\tLots of people show up to watch the game, far more than were interested in\nhearing the Ruler.\n\tThe young man says that the inn is a \"really bad place.\" Such is the\nchurch, but it's better than the storm.\n\tThe Ruler cleans the air and the water; fairly cosmic activities.\n\tObviously, Westwind is anyone who talks to God through prayer. This comes\nfrom John 3:8, where those born of God are like the wind.\n\tThe young man takes off his shoes before talking to the Ruler; following\nthe rule that one takes off one's shoes on holy ground.\n\tThe young woman covers her head before talking to the Ruler; following the\nrule that women pray with heads covered.\n\tKnowing the Ruler is like knowing where a treasure is hidden; this comes\nfrom the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, which is the Kingdom of\nGod.\n\tFinally, notice that the young man is not surprised that the young woman\nis also Westwind.\n\nNutria" } ] } ] }