love & the inhumi

Andy Robertson07 Feb 2002, 11:40original

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From: "Alice K. Turner" <aturner3 at nyc.rr.com> and Hyacinth's ghost in the ruined palace: part mocking, part loving. What happened to them?

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,

or love . . . now, come to think of it the whole business of the inhumi is about "the healing power of love", isn' it? If people stop hating the inhumi, who get their souls from people, will stop being god's scourge. Unfortunately Wolfe is not offering any facile answer here. The healing power of sexual love does not work particularly well where the inhumi are concerned: Jahlee's "humanisation" and interior sexualisation and love for Horn/Silk only leads her to try to kill Nettle. If anything the message of the books seems to be that you can't love the alien, or that it is a task that requires a god's patience. hartshorn

James Jordan12 Feb 2002, 17:33original

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At 05:40 AM 2/7/2002, you wrote: If people stop hating the inhumi, who get their souls from people, will stop being god's scourge. Unfortunately Wolfe is not offering any facile answer here. The healing power of sexual love does not work particularly well where the inhumi are concerned: Jahlee's "humanisation" and interior sexualisation and love for Horn/Silk only leads her to try to kill Nettle. If anything the message of the books seems to be that you can't love the alien, or that it is a task that requires a god's patience. hartshorn

In another post I mentioned that Wolfe sees sanctification as a very long and difficult process. His comment to me years ago about Severian was that Severian has come from a horrible background, and is gradually and traumatically trying to become a better person. I think we need to bear this theme in mind in the Short Sun presentation of human/inhumi relationships. Wolfe does, IMO, present what needs to happen: people to love inhumi as they love themselves (love your Neighbor as you love yourself, and inhumi are part of Neighborness). But there are going to be loads of setbacks along the way. These failures ought not to be taken as indications that the programme is wrong. When Jahlee dies in Nettle's arms, that is one of the most moving scenes I've ever read. It gives me chills just to remember it. It is a wonderful image of hope in spite of failure. Nutria

Andy Robertson12 Feb 2002, 20:31original

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When Jahlee dies in Nettle's arms, that is one of the most moving scenes I've ever read. It gives me chills just to remember it. It is a wonderful image of hope in spite of failure.

Actually, it seems to me a powerful image of failure in spite of hope :-( hartshorn

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