RttW discrepancy?

Matthew Groves25 Oct 2008, 18:06

There is a possible discrepancy between HornSilk's description of his arrival in the Whorl in In Green's Jungles, and that by Hoof, Daisy, Hide, and Vadsig at the beginning of Return to the Whorl. In HornSilk's version, as he leaves the house, "It was a little after midday then, as well as I could judge from the narrowing line of the Long Sun." (IGJ 127) In Hoof et al., "He backed away from the knife and stumbled through the open door into the darkest night ever known." (RttW 13-14) Is this merely a compression of events by Hoof et al. Matt

Roy C. Lackey27 Oct 2008, 05:35

↳ in reply to Matthew Groves

2 quoted lines

Matthew Groves wrote: There is a possible discrepancy between HornSilk's description of his arrival in the Whorl in In Green's Jungles, and that by Hoof, Daisy, Hide, and Vadsig at the beginning of Return to the Whorl. In HornSilk's version, as he leaves the house, "It was a little after midday then, as well as I could judge from the narrowing line of the Long Sun." (IGJ 127) In Hoof et al., "He backed away from the knife and stumbled through the open door into the darkest night ever known." (RttW 13-14) Is this merely a compression of events by Hoof et al.

The "darkest night ever known" had nothing to do with the Long Sun. It was the dark night of Silk's soul. -Roy

Dave Tallman27 Oct 2008, 11:22

↳ in reply to Roy C. Lackey

3 quoted lines

Roy C. Lackey wrote: The "darkest night ever known" had nothing to do with the Long Sun. It was the dark night of Silk's soul.

That's plausible, but Silk does run into a genuine Long-Sun blackout in the next section of their narrative, so Matthew's narrative compression idea may be right. It could also be that Silk forget about the lighted interlude when he told Hoof, Hide, and Daisy about this later.

Roy C. Lackey28 Oct 2008, 06:06

↳ in reply to Dave Tallman

3 quoted lines · 1–2 deep

Dave Tallman quoted and wrote: The "darkest night ever known" had nothing to do with the Long Sun. It was the dark night of Silk's soul.

That's plausible, but Silk does run into a genuine Long-Sun blackout in the next section of their narrative, so Matthew's narrative compression idea may be right. It could also be that Silk forget about the lighted interlude when he told Hoof, Hide, and Daisy about this later.

The "darkest night ever known" bit is a metaphor. Two page inches above the quote mentions "the hot sunshine streaming through the open door into the poor little room." It was by that light that he saw the knife that he recoiled and backed away from and "stumbled through the open door into the darkest night ever known." -Roy

Mr Thalassocrat28 Oct 2008, 10:03

↳ in reply to Roy C. Lackey

4 quoted lines · 1–3 deep

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 4:36 PM, Roy C. Lackey <rclackey at stic.net> wrote: Dave Tallman quoted and wrote:

The "darkest night ever known" had nothing to do with the Long Sun. It was the dark night of Silk's soul.

That's plausible, but Silk does run into a genuine Long-Sun blackout in the next section of their narrative, so Matthew's narrative compression idea may be right. It could also be that Silk forget about the lighted interlude when he told Hoof, Hide, and Daisy about this later.

The "darkest night ever known" bit is a metaphor. Two page inches above the quote mentions "the hot sunshine streaming through the open door into the poor little room." It was by that light that he saw the knife that he recoiled and backed away from and "stumbled through the open door into the darkest night ever known."

But if you looked only to RTTW surely you'd assume that the sun went out just as he was leaving the manse. Bright sunlight when he found himself in Silk, switching to dark as he left, groping blindly amongst trees in the next scene. Taking into account the IGJ passage, I like the compression explanation best. But maybe it's not that important.