Subject: (whorl) Sleeping Gods?

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 12:34:11 +0000

[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

alga:
> I do think that Tartaros, like every other god but Kypris, was indeed
> deactivated or "sleeping" up until Mamelta's repairs. (And I suspect
> that some of  them, those we never meet, are still deactivated.)

How do you square this with the claim by the Trivigauntis that they talk
to Sphigx all the time?  I get a little worried when _everything_ isn't
what it seems.  I think only Viron has had its gods turned off.

To me, it makes more sense that Pas was whacked because we wanted the
Cargo to debark, and the "bad gods" (Echidna, Scylla, Sphigx and maybe
others) wanted to keep their positions.  What was left of Pas was hidden
and Kypris hid as well.  She and Tartaros worked fulfill the Plan of Pas
by getting a lander launched from Viron.  Why Viron?  Because it's a
godless (in both senses) city -- no theophanies for 30 years.  It's more
receptive -- any city in regular contact with the gods (Q and Remora
imply that this is the norm) is going to be getting the anti-landing
party line daily.  (Reminds me of the scene in PKDick's _Eye in the Sky_
where God Himself gives the Sunday morning TV sermons, but I digress.)
Of course, another reason to pick Viron is that Kypris sees Silk in
Hyacinth's bedroom and recognizes him as a Good Bet to lead the exodus,
or at least provoke it.  This may be pure coincidence, or not.

mantis,

I've never read any Father Browns, but I have read _The Man Who Was
Thursday_, which I recall loving.  (There's a whole literature of
"Strange Books About Anarchists":  try Jack London's _The Assassination
Bureau_ or _The Iron Heel_ or _Star Rover_ for more examples, but I
digress again.)

I also was and am a big fan of "Lepanto," which is one of those pieces
of epic (well, a short epic) poetry they Just Don't Teach Anymore.  It's
very un-PC, as it is about war (and in favor of it, too), says bad
things about another religion (Islam), and *shudder* rhymes. As a final
insult, it has a rhythm that a rap artist would be proud of.

Kipling and Chesterton are unappreciated today. Just too 19th century, I
guess.

     -vizcacha
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com