{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/21", "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": 21, "subject": "the mystery of Q", "messages": 5, "voices": 3, "first": "1997-01-12T18:53:24+00:00", "last": "1997-01-13T13:01:55+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "CoxRathvon", "address": "coxrathvon at aol.com" }, "date": "1997-01-12T18:53:24+00:00", "subject": "(whorl) the mystery of Q", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Patrick wrote: \"Anyone else get the feeling that there are fathoms of mystery\nyet unplumbed in these books? Every time I reread I'm stunned by how Wolfe\ncan couch the most startling revelations in a throwaway bit of dialogue.\"\n\nI concur heartily on both points. One of the deepest mysteries in the whole\nfour-book series is the blood-drinking Quetzal. I wince to admit it now, but\non my first reading of the books, I completely missed a number of what\nPatrick calls \"throwaway\" revelations about this inhuman. For example,\nMucor refers more than once to \"the man who isn't there,\" and Wolfe casually\nhas Silk misunderstand her; Silk thinks she's referring to Pas (the god who\nno longer exists). But of course, Mucor must have tried to possess Quetzal\nand evidently found that instead of a human consciousness for her to inhabit,\nthere was \"nothing there\"--nothing, at any rate, that she could penetrate.\n For another example, the wonderful bird Oreb (who eats eyeballs and who sees\nmore clearly than anyone, as Patrick coyly observes), refers to Quetzal as\n\"Bad thing.\" But again Wolfe has Silk misunderstand; Silk thinks Oreb is\nreferring to a walking stick, or a hole, or whatever else nearby might be a\n\"thing.\" \n\nAs someone else in this communal letter has asked, how the hell did Quetzal\nget aboard the Whorl? How old is he really? What are his deepest motives?\n Does he befriend Silk only because Silk will bring about the \"plan of Pas\"\nand thereby deliver a supply of human food to Blue and Green? Even my third\nrereading of these books is not helping me answer all these questions.\n Speculations from other readers are warmly welcomed!\n\nBy the way, I love the name \"Quetzal.\" Not only does it evoke Quetzalcoatl,\na rather fearsome serpent god of the Aztecs, but the real-life quetzal of\nCentral America belongs to the \"trogon\" family--and I have discovered in my\nhandy dictionary that \"trogon\" comes from a Greek word meaning \"gnaw.\" Very\nfunny, Mr. Wolfe! In addition to all that, there is the alphabetical appeal\nof the letter Q, the chief letter of question, query, quest, Quixotic, and\nquiz, among other queer things. It's nice when a name in a story resonates\nthis way.\n\nAnd finally, I agree with everyone who's cited the line \"Then I walked in\" as\na major shocker. It exploded off the page at me! I wanted to ask myself\nwhether it was a cheap shot, but my mind was too busy reeling, trying to see\neverything in this new light--which itself answers any question about the\nline's effectiveness. In short, it just about killed me.\n\nBoy, this is fun!\n\n--Henry Rathvon \n\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Stewart", "address": "james.stewart at worldnet.att.net" }, "date": "1997-01-12T19:13:25+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 11:53 PM 1/12/97 +0000, you wrote:\n\nAnd finally, I agree with everyone who's cited the line \"Then I walked in\" as\na major shocker. It exploded off the page at me! I wanted to ask myself\nwhether it was a cheap shot, but my mind was too busy reeling, trying to see\neverything in this new light--which itself answers any question about the\nline's effectiveness. In short, it just about killed me." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "I feel like an idiot, where was this line and what was its significance?\n\nBy the way, I am new here. Having read the Book of the New Sun and Book of\nthe Long Sun, I was a Wolfe fan.\n\n\n_____________________________________________\nJames A. Stewart\n\njames.stewart at worldnet.att.net \nor\njstewart at cougar.colstate.cc.oh.us\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "CoxRathvon", "address": "coxrathvon at aol.com" }, "date": "1997-01-12T19:25:53+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "To James Stewart: The line in question is actually \"At that moment I burst\ninto the room.\" It occurs on page 282 (the last page of chapter 13) of\n\"Exodus from the Long Sun.\" Until that moment, the entire story has seemed\nto have a third-person omniscient narrator. But with this sudden intrusion\nof an \"I,\" the focus of the narration is jarred. One realizes a couple lines\nlater that the \"I\" is the boy Horn, and one then sees everything from a new\nperspective. Some readers, I wager, will consider this sudden narrative\nshift too gimmicky. As for me, I've always loved surprises.\n\n--Henry Rathvon\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Stewart", "address": "james.stewart at worldnet.att.net" }, "date": "1997-01-12T20:23:46+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "At 12:25 AM 1/13/97 +0000, you wrote:\n\n[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]\n\nTo James Stewart: The line in question is actually \"At that moment I burst\ninto the room.\" It occurs on page 282 (the last page of chapter 13) of\n\"Exodus from the Long Sun.\" Until that moment, the entire story has seemed\nto have a third-person omniscient narrator. But with this sudden intrusion\nof an \"I,\" the focus of the narration is jarred. One realizes a couple lines\nlater that the \"I\" is the boy Horn, and one then sees everything from a new\nperspective. Some readers, I wager, will consider this sudden narrative\nshift too gimmicky. As for me, I've always loved surprises." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Well, I feel a lot less stupid now. I haven't even seen that book yet.\n\nSo, does one need to reread the first three to get into the fourth?\n\nBy the way, who was Severin's mother--oops, wrong series!\n\n\n_____________________________________________\nJames A. Stewart\n\njames.stewart at worldnet.att.net \nor\njstewart at cougar.colstate.cc.oh.us\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Doug Eigsti", "address": "douge at nti.com" }, "date": "1997-01-13T13:01:55+00:00", "subject": "Re: (whorl) the mystery of Q", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "[Posted from Whorl, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]\n\nPatrick wrote: \"Anyone else get the feeling that there are fathoms of mystery\nyet unplumbed in these books? Every time I reread I'm stunned by how Wolfe\ncan couch the most startling revelations in a throwaway bit of dialogue.\"\n\nI concur heartily on both points. One of the deepest mysteries in the whole\nfour-book series is the blood-drinking Quetzal. I wince to admit it now, but\non my first reading of the books, I completely missed a number of what\nPatrick calls \"throwaway\" revelations about this inhuman. For example,\nMucor refers more than once to \"the man who isn't there,\" and Wolfe casually\nhas Silk misunderstand her; Silk thinks she's referring to Pas (the god who\nno longer exists). But of course, Mucor must have tried to possess Quetzal\nand evidently found that instead of a human consciousness for her to inhabit,\nthere was \"nothing there\"--nothing, at any rate, that she could penetrate.\n For another example, the wonderful bird Oreb (who eats eyeballs and who sees\nmore clearly than anyone, as Patrick coyly observes), refers to Quetzal as\n\"Bad thing.\" But again Wolfe has Silk misunderstand; Silk thinks Oreb is\nreferring to a walking stick, or a hole, or whatever else nearby might be a\n\"thing.\" " }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " Quetzal is first mentioned in LAKE on page 81.2 (2nd paragraph). On page\n86.1 Remora notes that he is fond of beef tea. Remora says \"A man can't\nlive on beef tea and air\", we now know that he was supplementing his diet\nwith blood. " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "As someone else in this communal letter has asked, how the hell did Quetzal\nget aboard the Whorl? How old is he really? What are his deepest motives?\n Does he befriend Silk only because Silk will bring about the \"plan of Pas\"\nand thereby deliver a supply of human food to Blue and Green? Even my third\nrereading of these books is not helping me answer all these questions.\n Speculations from other readers are warmly welcomed!" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "On page 310.1 (I think, I don't have the book on me, only my notes) of\nNIGHTSIDE Silk remembers that Pike believed that devils entered the Whorl\nagainst Pas' will. Silk comes to a different conclusion, to mislead us. I\nthink this is our clue. Quetzal is a Vampire/Pirate that boarded the whorl\nenroute to some other, closer, planet (everything seems to be in service\npast its' engineered lifespan) and commenced to corrupt its' original\nmission and change its' course and destination. " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "By the way, I love the name \"Quetzal.\" Not only does it evoke Quetzalcoatl,\na rather fearsome serpent god of the Aztecs, but the real-life quetzal of\nCentral America belongs to the \"trogon\" family--and I have discovered in my\nhandy dictionary that \"trogon\" comes from a Greek word meaning \"gnaw.\" Very\nfunny, Mr. Wolfe! In addition to all that, there is the alphabetical appeal\nof the letter Q, the chief letter of question, query, quest, Quixotic, and\nquiz, among other queer things. It's nice when a name in a story resonates\nthis way.\n\nAnd finally, I agree with everyone who's cited the line \"Then I walked in\" as\na major shocker. It exploded off the page at me! I wanted to ask myself\nwhether it was a cheap shot, but my mind was too busy reeling, trying to see\neverything in this new light--which itself answers any question about the\nline's effectiveness. In short, it just about killed me.\n\nBoy, this is fun!\n\n--Henry Rathvon \n\n\nQuestions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com" } ] } ] }