Subject: (urth) no, no - Horn must be the one who is moved

From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 20:52:17 +0000

There is one problem with Babbie being the one whose soul is transported into 
the narrator - there is no mechanism.  When Horn goes into Silk, there is a 
vanished person right there.  When Horn goes into Babbie, there is a vanished 
God right there - "A tree like there is on green".  There is nothing to 
transmit Babbie through that distance.  There has to be something at the 
senders end - and we have direct textual evidence of that tree above Horn as 
he sleeps. (Whenever Silk undergoes astral travel, he always has his branch 
staff made from a tree vine with him, and it becomes very important that he 
look for it every time he goes or it is taken away).

I really don't understand how you can say that Babbie going into Horn makes 
any more sense than Horn going into Babbie, when it is QUITE clear that the 
narrators of On Blue's Waters and In Green's Jungles have a very, very 
different outlook on life, and one deals with the past, while one deals with 
the present and tells the past sometimes in the third person, indicating that 
it happened to someone who seems to be a different person.  What good is 
Babbie except as a receptacle for both Mucor when she wants to get away and 
Horn when he needs a place for his soul?  Remember the couch in the dream of 
Horn's son - there is a couch with eight legs and ten, and someone hiding 
underneath - this is Babbie, with Horn or Mucor hiding with it (8+2 legs, eh?)
 Babbie is a receptacle, not a paradigm of courage.

Oh well.  I think you should believe what you think fits the text the best for 
you.  At least I know what to believe.

Marc Aramini

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From: Andrew Bollen <abollen at internode.on.net>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 23:38:36 +0000

Marc wrote:

> you.

Absolutely! I *like* Horn-into-Babbie, but I think Babbie-into-Horn fits
better.

> the narrator - there is no mechanism.

But you could say the same thing for Mucor's possessions, Mora/Fava's
possessions ...

> What good is
> Horn when he needs a place for his soul?  ....  Babbie is a receptacle,
not a paradigm of courage.

I feel compelled to come to Babbie's defence here. He can (almost) talk, he
can man the sweeps, he's undoubtedly brave. SilkHorn says of him: "He was
stronger than I, and a great deal braver; and we were there to support each
other, not to boast of our superiorities."  This is just a little before the
calling episode, and may be one of Wolfe's little hints.

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