Subject: (urth) Re: Hyacinth

From: Andy Robertson <andywrobertson at clara.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 21:59:00 +0000

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From: "maa32" <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>

> And while I don't take "Hyacinth as possibly a man" seriously,

<snip>

Hyacinth is not a traanssexual, but she is such an artificial woman that
your idea is perhaps symbolically true.    And actually, she is not a very
realistic or convincing character at all.  We never see things from her
perspective;  she is a vacuum of destructive femininity.    Why was the
little house she and Silk retired to so poor and broken?   How was it that
Silk's love for her somehow never failed, so that when she died, his spirit
died?    Did they find a way to get on with each other?  Or was Silk's whole
life with her a torture?   There seemed to be some interaction between Silk
and Hyacinth's ghost in the ruined palace:  part mocking, part loving.
What happened to them?

    hartshorn

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From: Alice K. Turner <aturner3 at nyc.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 05:40:19 +0000

> and Hyacinth's ghost in the ruined palace:  part mocking, part loving.

Nice post, hartshorn. Which is to say that I too have thought about these
things. How in the world could two so fundamentally different characters
have found a way to get along? With Silk it would be the healing power of
sex, but Hy is totally cynical about sex--mocking  With her, it would be
sticking with power, but, as you point out, there's no power eventually.

Well, Wolfe was wise to avoid trying to demonstrate the relationship--I
don't think he could have.

-alga

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 17:25:22 +0000

>don't think he could have.

         Yes. I think one has to be mostly satisfied with the symbolic 
dimension, that Silk is like Christ and Hyacinth is like the wayward Bride 
of Christ, who is quite often a Harlot (as the book of Revelation has it). 
Another "bride of Silk" is Maytera Mint, whose gentle persuasive 
"evangelism for Silk" in *Exodus* relates to how the Church should behave 
toward her Husband.
         It would be interesting to re-read the four books and look 
carefully at all of "Silk's women" (Mucor, the mayteras, Hyacinth) and see 
how each in different ways might work with this theme, and perhaps how all 
taken together provide a rounded picture.  But Hyacinth does seem to be the 
"bride" who needs to be rescued, but who really does not want to be 
rescued. Yet, there may be more to her than that. It may be a load of guilt 
that keeps causing her to leave Silk. Perhaps we should have some sympathy 
for her.
         One theme in Wolfe, seen particularly in Severian, is that it 
takes a very long time to change one's upbringing and bad habits. 
Conversion reorients the heart, but changing the life is a long process. 
Perhaps Hyacinth is on such a journey. I thought she really loved Silk, but 
kept finding herself unworthy and thus would run away from him. I guess I 
kind of liked her -- saw a bit of myself in her.
         But it's been a while since I read these books.

Nutria

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