{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/1018",
    "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": "whorl",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1018,
    "subject": "Silk the Precursor?",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2000-09-07T07:08:50+00:00",
    "last": "2000-09-07T07:08:50+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0011-0247@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Nicholas Gevers",
        "address": "vermoulian at yahoo.com"
      },
      "date": "2000-09-07T07:08:50+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Silk the Precursor?",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Something that hasn't attracted much comment as yet is\nthe simple question: why, thematically speaking, does\nWolfe include a crossover to Urth in IN GREEN'S\nJUNGLES, and, apparently, another in RETURN TO THE\nWHORL? Knowing of Urth may enrich our readings of THE\nBOOK OF THE SHORT SUN, but does knowledge of SHORT SUN\nenrich our understanding of Urth, of THE BOOK OF THE\nNEW SUN? I'd like to postulate that the answer is yes,\nin a quite specific way.\n\nI commented a while back on the likelihood that Horn\net al visit Urth in IGJ on the day of Severian's\nswimming expedition at the start of THE SHADOW OF THE\nTORTURER. Quite a few people have concurred. Some\nmention has also been made of parallels between\nSilk/Horn and Severian: the wielding of a numinous\nblack sword, the Claw-style light given to Horn by the\nNeighbour on Green, the lochage concluding that Horn\nis a Master of the Torturers' Guild. What I infer from\nall this is that the career of Silk/Horn is the\ntemplate for Severian's career: the Hierodules and\nothers shape Severian's life to resemble Silk/Horn's,\nbecause the latter's progressively benevolent pattern\nwill make Severian a likely bringer of the New Sun.\nSilk/Horn is Severian's precursor: his arrival on\nUrth, just as the action of THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN\ncommences, is the inspiration the higher powers need\nfor their successful manipulation of Severian's\ntimeline. "
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}