{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/4237", "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": 4237, "subject": "Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "messages": 5, "voices": 4, "first": "2004-10-05T09:03:32+00:00", "last": "2004-10-05T12:36:07+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "<20041005.011652.59468333.christopher_culver@yahoo.com>", "from": { "name": "Christopher Culver", "address": "christopher_culver at yahoo.com" }, "date": "2004-10-05T09:03:32+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "The relatively-new CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO SCIENCE FICTION includes an\nessay which dedicates about a page and a half to Wolfe's solar\nworks. The overview isn't terribly in-depth, but I found it most\ninteresting that the writer sees Silk as going on to become \"a fisher\nof men\" among the stars at the end of the Book of the Short Sun.\n\nThis changed my view of the ending of the BotSS entirely. I originally\nthought it was an inexplicable and cruel abandoning of Blue by\nSilkhorn after saving some of his buddies from it (as in the\ntraditional belief of the Harrowing of Hell). Now, however, I can see\nthat perhaps Wolfe wanted it to be an optimistic finale in which\nworship of the Outsider will spread all over the universe.\n\nSure, Blue is abandoned by Silkhorn himself, but there are still those\nwho knew Silk, or read Horn's book, so they know of the Outsider, and\nmonotheism might continue on, especially if (as Wolfe's Catholic faith\nwould have it) the Holy Spirit continues its work eternally.\n\nDoes the idea of Silk as galactic bringer of good news make anyone\nelse appreciate the ending of BotSS more?\n\nChristopher Culver" } ] }, { "message_id": "<001501c4aafe$89d158f0$4108a9c0@pointserve.com>", "from": { "name": "James Wynn", "address": "thewynns at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2004-10-05T10:12:14+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "in_reply_to": "<20041005.011652.59468333.christopher_culver@yahoo.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Christopher Culver:\nDoes the idea of Silk as galactic bringer of good news make\nanyone else appreciate the ending of BotSS more?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Hmmm.. Who will he take the \"good news\" too? The Neighbors and Inhumi hardly \nneeded whatever theological messages the Short Sun Narrator had to offer.\n\nRather becoming a mere foil for the Whorl pantheon (which in fact, the Whorl \ncannot live without - they're are modules of the Mainframe) it seemed to me \nthat the characters who return are supposed to \"heal\" the pantheon in some \nway (I don't now exactly how). After all, Pas was almost rubbed by his wife \nand at least three children. He returns in pieces really -- and is it likely \nhe's yet entirely whole? Then he proceeds to erase Echidna, Scylla, Molpe, \nand Hierax.\nWho returns to the Whorl? Silk, Nettle, Seawrack, Marble, and Oreb. A nearly \nperfect analogy of the damaged gods (I grant that Nettle is a bit of a \nwedge-job).\n\nNaturally, Silk's goal would be have the pantheon and their worshipers \nrecognize the pre-eminence of the Outsider.\n\nYou are probably right about where the Whorl is going, however. It seems \nobvious to me after a year of reflection that the ship was always expected \nto continue on from star to star. Otherwise, what would happen to all the \n\"non-Cargo\" on the ship? Wolfe has said there will be no more sequels to the \nSilk segment, but I think it would be very interesting to see a couple \nstories on the crew of the Whorl.\n\n~ Crush " } ] }, { "message_id": "<1f761737041005101541eca72b@mail.gmail.com>", "from": { "name": "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes", "address": "danldo at gmail.com" }, "date": "2004-10-05T10:17:12+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "in_reply_to": "<001501c4aafe$89d158f0$4108a9c0@pointserve.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Does the idea of Silk as galactic bringer of good news make\nanyone else appreciate the ending of BotSS more?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Hmmm.. Who will he take the \"good news\" too? " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Ummmm ... perhaps this is a literal reading of \"In my Father's house \nthere are many mansions.\"" }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer\nNo president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever \nsay he wants to put anyone on a leash. That's all.\n --Andrew Sullivan" } ] }, { "message_id": "<002b01c4ab02$13725200$4108a9c0@pointserve.com>", "from": { "name": "James Wynn", "address": "thewynns at earthlink.net" }, "date": "2004-10-05T10:38:11+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "in_reply_to": "<1f761737041005101541eca72b@mail.gmail.com>", "reply_link": "header", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 3, "text": "Does the idea of Silk as galactic bringer of good news make\nanyone else appreciate the ending of BotSS more?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Hmmm.. Who will he take the \"good news\" too?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Ummmm ... perhaps this is a literal reading of \"In my Father's house\nthere are many mansions.\"" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Why not? But if so, the planets Neighbors and Inhumi do not strike me as\nobvious exemplars of the missionary field that the Short Sun Narrator is\nsupposed to evangelize. We know nothing of the religion of the Neighbors (it\ndoes not seem likely to me that Mother was an object of worship) and if they\nwere converted to the worship of the Outsider (the Narrator excluded) it is \nnot so stated in the text AFAIK.\n\n~ Crush\n\n\n\"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready\nin the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.\"\n- George Orwell" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Chris", "address": "rasputin_ at hotmail.com" }, "date": "2004-10-05T12:36:07+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Silkhorn's mission after BotSS", "in_reply_to": "<002b01c4ab02$13725200$4108a9c0@pointserve.com>", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I always thought of his leaving as a way to ensure that the man/messenger \ndidn't eclipse the message. He was back, really, to plant a seed more than \nto fix all of Blue's problems himself. So I didn't really get that negative \nconnotation in the first place." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "The relatively-new CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO SCIENCE FICTION includes an\nessay which dedicates about a page and a half to Wolfe's solar\nworks. The overview isn't terribly in-depth, but I found it most\ninteresting that the writer sees Silk as going on to become \"a fisher\nof men\" among the stars at the end of the Book of the Short Sun.\n\nThis changed my view of the ending of the BotSS entirely. I originally\nthought it was an inexplicable and cruel abandoning of Blue by\nSilkhorn after saving some of his buddies from it (as in the\ntraditional belief of the Harrowing of Hell). Now, however, I can see\nthat perhaps Wolfe wanted it to be an optimistic finale in which\nworship of the Outsider will spread all over the universe.\n\nSure, Blue is abandoned by Silkhorn himself, but there are still those\nwho knew Silk, or read Horn's book, so they know of the Outsider, and\nmonotheism might continue on, especially if (as Wolfe's Catholic faith\nwould have it) the Holy Spirit continues its work eternally.\n\nDoes the idea of Silk as galactic bringer of good news make anyone\nelse appreciate the ending of BotSS more?\n\nChristopher Culver\n_______________________________________________" } ] } ] }