Subject: (urth) More on Silk-Horn's eating habits

From: Tom Foster <t.foster2 at ntlworld.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:18:12 +0000

Following on from my question about this the other day, I have now read the
first 150 pages or so of RTTW. Two passages stood out with respect to the
narrator's eating habits, both of which concern him eating/drinking
enthusiastically. These are just about the only times I can remember that
the narrator feels this way. The two instances occur at the beginning of the
chapter 'Haunting Dorp', in which he enthusiastically describes all the food
that he is brought as "a feast", and in the chapter 'Dark Empty Rooms', in
which he drinks wine several times. One of these instances occurs in his
present, and one in his past. I'm not sure what to make of it all, but it
does seem strange.

I've been reading a lot of conversations in the archives and was interested
to read about John Clute's review of IGJ, in which he apparently stated that
it was fairly evident that the protagonist of the books is an inhumi. There
was some debate about it, but what do people make of it now?  I'm not at all
convinced, though I can see several arguments to support it, as well as
several to dispute it (the obvious ones being the eating/drinking and the
ability to write neatly, though perhaps this could be achieved through being
an inhumi trapped in a human's body?)  One thing that struck me as slightly
sinister is a sentence at the end of OBW. The narrator writes "Brother and
Sister should have made me feel younger, as the girl did. I felt old
instead". It isn't clear who the 'girl' he is referring to might be
(Seawrack?), but I think that one could interpret this statement in several
ways...

Tom

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From: Andy Robertson <andywrobertson at clara.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:28:02 +0000

I think it is possible that when Horn went to Green he was sucked dry by an
inhumu and thereafter merely thought he was human.

I cannot pin down the spot but I think it might be after he leaves the City
and is lost in the jungle.    The rest of his striving on Green is the
striving of an inhumu who thinks he is a man.

Silk-on-Blue is therefore a triple hybrid:  Silk has the inhumu's soul:  the
inhumu has Horn's soul.   Hence Silk carries many inhumu characteristics,
including reluctance to eat.

Silk-on-blue is of course *physically* human, since he begets children at
Gaon.

    hartshorn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Foster" <t.foster2 at ntlworld.com>
To: <urth at urth.net>

> sinister is a sentence at the end of OBW.

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:26:08 +0000

> inhumu and thereafter merely thought he was human.

I don't think the inhumu soul-stealing works that way.  

For one thing, there's no other evidence of an inhumu gaining memories (or
even much personality) from the person he/she's drained.  Fava feels the
urge to appear like an old lady after she drinks from Mora's grandmother,
but she doesn't show any signs of taking on the grandmother's memories or
personality.

Secondly, if there's any sense in which an inhumu gains personality from
someone who has been drained of blood, it is in the second generation.  
Krait is drawn to Horn, and is so much like a son to him--extending to the
love/hate relationship, because his mother drained Sinew.   I guess you
could say that Horn was drained by an inhumu who subsequently had children
and that one of those children then had adventures on Green thinking he
was Horn (and somehow getting hold of Horn's neighbor ring) and then sent
his hybrid soul into Silk, but that seems to be wandering pretty far into
fan fiction territory.

The strongest objection to this idea is that, based on the actions of
inhumi when they spirit travel and gain human bodies, an inhumu spirit in
Silk's body would revel in eating and having sex and doing all the other
human things it was unable to do in its reptilian body.  If there were an
inhumu in there, Silk would be eating more, not less, so you'd need some
other explanation for why he's not eating.

To me, the "Silk is used to fasting, but Horn isn't" explanation is the
simplest.  

-Rostrum

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:50:28 +0000

> his hybrid soul into Silk, but that seems to be wandering pretty far into

Yet another problem with this theory.  When the narrator and Hoof and
Jahlee travel to Green and visit Sinew's city, they go out to the lander
where Horn died and retrieve the Neighbor ring and leave it with
Sinew.  Surely people would have noticed and made a fuss if Horn's body
had actually been a dead inhumu.

-Rostrum

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:54:52 +0000

On Tue, 19 Feb 2002, Tom Foster wrote:

> One thing that struck me as slightly

I think "the girl" there is the concubine the Rajan escaped with.  I
agree, that sentence does lend itself to sinister interpretation.

I don't think the narrator is an inhumu, but I'm starting to think Wolfe
meant to tease us with the suspicion that he might be.

-Rostrum

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:19:16 +0000

>agree, that sentence does lend itself to sinister interpretation.

Maybe, but I think the simplest is the best here. An old man with a young 
concubine is surely going to feel younger. And being around little children 
also makes an old man feel younger. Or, such experiences can make one feel 
one's age. In fact, depending on one's mood and the time of the day, one 
can go back and forth. Wolfe's an Old Guy now, and I'm sure he feels 
younger around his grandchildren. (I assume no concubines are present in 
his life!).

Nutria

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