Subject: (urth) Flora and Fauna

From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:53:40 +0000

Marc's continued insistence on the importance of flora and fauna has me thinking.
I don't doubt he is right. It's funny how we have the Vironese naming convention for
males and females on a whorl which does not have much in the way of natural animals
and plants.
 
In the past I've been reasonably content for it as a nod to Wolfe and his wife Rosemary.
But perhaps there are more levels to it than that. For now I'll leave alone the Neighbor-
inhumi, trees-vines, Pan-Dionysus, animal-plant connections though perhaps they hover in 
the background.

I wonder if a focus on flora and fauna is meant to force us to take a closer look at
Fauna in BotNS (and, by association, Faunus-Inire). The Roman mythology behind this has 
been discussed previously but not the goddess Flora, whose presence might be implied by
Fauna.
 
Flora was a former prostitute who ended up as a lover of Hercules and wife of wind god
Zephyrus/Favionus. She is associated with Acca Laurentia who was wet nurse/foster mother
to Romulus and Remus. She is associated with Harpocrates, God of Silence and together
they made the rose a symbol of secrecy in regard to lovers.
 
Perhaps this is the significance behind the mention of  "Laurentia of the house of the Harp" 
in BotNS. Acca Laurentia was also known as "Lupa" or "she-wolf, perhaps begatting the wolf-
suckling portion of the Romulus and Remus tale.
 
Wolves, roses, wind, Romulus and Remus, Hercules and even sexual secrecy might all have 
significance and intended connection of Flora to the story of BotNS.

(fwiw: Marx brother Harpo's feigned silence and name may have been partially derived from Harpocrates 
as well as his musical instrument of choice)

---

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:59:05 +0000

> as well as his musical instrument of choice)

According to his autobiography (Harpo Speaks), his silence came from
realizing that he couldn't keep up verbally with Groucho and Chico.
Since Zeppo was already the straight man, that left him out, so he
developed a character that didn't need to keep up with their patter.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes

---

From: Marc Aramini <marcaramini at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2011 21:05:58 +0000

And for valid reproduction to continue, its always got to be an animal or animal product with a plant or plant product under that naming system, with the plant being the fecund operator.  I think this plant/animal hybridism/mating is written into the text so deeply it is difficult to get around.  

By Empires of Foliage and Flower you had the sages, sentient vegetation with power over time, or at least, that is the power Father Thyme displayed, a city which translated means Green, etc.  Just been trying to see if there was any sign of this sentient vegetation in New Sun, since nobody likes the quote where Sev in the very first chapter or two thinks about how the new sun will make leaves spring to life and make a brush run up a tree.  Once I got in a debate over whether that was a hairbrush or like, you know, vegetative brush.  Don't care to repeat that one.  Better to look for other examples.

--- On Tue, 2/8/11, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com>
> Subject: (urth) Flora and Fauna
> To: urth at lists.urth.net
> Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 11:53 AM
> 
> I don't doubt he is right.

---

From: Jeff Wilson <jwilson at io.com>
Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 05:16:54 +0000

> as well as his musical instrument of choice) 		 	   		

Careful, you could come down with tennis elbow that way.

Now it can be told: http://preview.tinyurl.com/4hq6ln7

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
Computational Intelligence Laboratory - Texas A&M Texarkana
< http://www.tamut.edu/CIL >