{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3337", "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": 3337, "subject": "Silk's appetite", "messages": 6, "voices": 6, "first": "2002-07-07T06:10:36+00:00", "last": "2002-07-09T20:51:39+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "David Duffy", "address": "davidd at qimr.edu.au" }, "date": "2002-07-07T06:10:36+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I seem to recall someone earlier pointing out that Silk was always very\nabstemious, as befits an augur." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Steve Strickland", "address": "sstrickland at satx.rr.com" }, "date": "2002-07-08T14:40:33+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "This explanation has never really satisfied me. The question of why Silk\ndoesn't eat much is probably the one that puzzles me the most.\n\nCertainly, it is intended to suggest that Silk may be an inhumi, though\nthere are also suggestions that he is not. One of these days I'm going to\nhave time to re-read ShortSun and get to the bottom of it, though it's\ndiscouraging to hear of people who've read it twice and still don't know the\nanswer.\n\nI can't help but wonder: maybe the clues that Silk is an inhumi are all too\nclear and readers such as we simply refuse to accept them out of preference.\n\nAnother possibility that I wish I had time to explore: maybe Silk's lack of\nan appetite is a clue as to the true nature of Silk's \"power\". We know\nthat Silk is profoundly good, at least in certain respects. Part of that\ngoodness is reflected in kindness to the inhumi and it seems to be a\nkindness of such an absolute quality that it serves as protection against\nthe inhumi, which seems to be related to their secret, which Silk exposes.\nIt seems to me that just as the inhumi take on the nature of the humans upon\nwhom they feed, perhaps Silk takes on some of the aspects of the inhumi, who\nhe has mastered. I know that's just an idea in its inception, and it's been\nawhile since I've read Short Sun, but it's an idea I toyed with at the time\nof reading and I can't help but think there's something there.\n\nOn another subject: I think it's wrong to view Horn as gone, just because\nSilk is alive. Horn's memories, at least, remain in Silk, where they were\ntransported across worlds while Horn lay dying on Green.\n\nSteve Strickland\n\n----- Original Message -----" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: \"David Duffy\" \nTo: \nSent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 1:10 AM\nSubject: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite\nI seem to recall someone earlier pointing out that Silk was always very\nabstemious, as befits an augur.\n\n\n--" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Spectacled Bear", "address": "spectacled.bear at pobox.com" }, "date": "2002-07-08T16:25:05+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 15:40 2002-07-08, Steve Strickland wrote:\nThis explanation has never really satisfied me. The question of why Silk\ndoesn't eat much is probably the one that puzzles me the most." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "As an augur he was extremely poor, and had very little food to live on.\nLook at what a treat the tomatoes are in Long Sun, for instance.\n\nSpectacled Bear." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "2002-07-08T19:10:46+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: David Duffy \nI seem to recall someone earlier pointing out that Silk was always very\nabstemious, as befits an augur." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Silk was a kid fresh out of the seminary. He was a novice as an augur,\nhadn't had time to inculcate the poor-as-a-church-mouse stereotypical\nappetite of same. His eating habits must date from childhood, about which we\nare told very little.\n\nSilk's abstemiousness is, to some degree, an affectation. When his mind is\notherwise engaged he can--and does--eat normally, as at Inclito's house.\n(IGJ, 71)\n\n-Roy" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "matthew.malthouse", "address": "matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk" }, "date": "2002-07-09T10:46:26+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 07/07/2002 07:10:36 David Duffy wrote:\nI seem to recall someone earlier pointing out that Silk was always very\nabstemious, as befits an augur." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Befitting or not his Mantieon seems always to be on short commons so\nlikely it was a long engrained habit.\n\nMatthew" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ashley Crill", "address": "ashley.crill at student.oc.edu" }, "date": "2002-07-09T20:51:39+00:00", "subject": "RE: (urth) Re: Silk's appetite", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Silk was a kid fresh out of the seminary. He was a novice as an augur,\nhadn't had time to inculcate the poor-as-a-church-mouse stereotypical\nappetite of same. His eating habits must date from childhood, about which we\nare told very little.\n\nSilk's abstemiousness is, to some degree, an affectation. When his mind is\notherwise engaged he can--and does--eat normally, as at Inclito's house.\n(IGJ, 71)" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " In my opinion, this emphasis on Silk/Horn's appetite in IGJ is simply a clue to the reader that Horn is now inhabiting Silk's body. As Roy notes, Silk does not usually eat much. Now that Horn is in Silk's body, he eats only as much as Silk would normally eat. Before reading RTtW, I didn't realize that Horn was inhabiting Silk's body in IGJ. His appetite is simply a clue to the change that has taken place." } ] } ] }