Subject: (whorl) more on the airship

From: CoxRathvon <coxrathvon at aol.com>
Date: Sun, 05 Jan 1997 11:32:42 +0000

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

I thank Rich Skrenta and Peter Cash for replying to my queries about the
top-of-the-airship conversation between Silk and Horn.  I am almost finished
with my second reading of "Exodus," and I think I now agree with Rich Skrenta
that as Mucor possessed Horn, it upset Horn's balance; it's not a matter of
Silk actually attempting suicide, or of anything else sinister.  Also, I'm
regarding as a possibility Peter Cash's thoughtful suggestion that Hyacinth
might be--or might once have been--a spy for Trivagaunti.  At any rate it's
clear that she has a complicated past (or something about her nature) that
has been kept secret from Silk.  I wish I understood it better.  Evidently
Silk's intuition about it--combined with his fatigue, his dawning
understanding of Pas's plan, and the frustration of his efforts to establish
peace among the factions in Viron--has thrown him into a despondent
contemplation of humanity's frailties and evil.   Apparently he recovers from
this despondency through his talk with Horn.  I would continue to welcome
more thoughts on this key scene from other readers.
--Henry Rathvon

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