Subject: (whorl) Revelation of Horn as author

From: Dan Rabin <danrabin at a.crl.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 21:36:12 +0000

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

Henry Rathvon and others have cited the line `At that moment I burst into
the room' as the point of revelation of Horn's authorship.  Actually, the
entry _Horn_ on p. 8 in `Gods, Persons, and Animals Mentioned in the Text'
in _Exodus_ calls him `the colonist who undertook to write the _Book of
Silk_'.  The line still hits with force even if one is so prepared,
however.

I have always assumed that by placing these lists at the beginning of each
book, Wolfe means for us to read them first.  Sometimes they confirm what
has already been implied: in _Exodus_, for example, Mucor is `the young
woman grown from a frozen embryo purchased by Blood.'  On the other hand,
they sometimes make us wonder at the outset how the descriptions can be
fulfilled, as with Mint's entry at the beginning of _Calde_: `General MINT:
The Sword of Echidna...'

By the way, the name list in _Exodus_ seems to be missing Feist, the
Assistant Day Manager at Ermine's who attempts to keep Sand and company
from seeing Siyuf on p. 293.

The name list in _Exodus_ also calls Hyacinth `the estranged wife of
Serval', who himself is identified as the captain who pretended to arrest
Silk.  If this is who Peter Cash meant by the `anonymous army officer'
(actually a Civil Guard officer) in whorl.v001.n017.1, he evidently has a
name.  Silk makes the connection (sans name) on p. 368.

 -- Dan Rabin

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