{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/337",
    "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": 337,
    "subject": "Silk's Religion",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "1997-06-10T09:51:35+00:00",
    "last": "1997-06-14T02:17:50+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0005-0340@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Michael Straight",
        "address": "straight at email.unc.edu"
      },
      "date": "1997-06-10T09:51:35+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Silk's Religion",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I think one of the most well-done parts of this series is the way it is\nable to portray Silk's religious experiences and faith in the Outsider in\na way that is compelling, but without the author definitively\nauthenticating them.  At the very beginning, when Silk was enlightened, I\nthought, \"This is interesting, Wolfe seems to be telling the reader that\nGod really exists in this universe.\"  And then when Crane made his casual\nstatement about brain seizures, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  And the\nwhole thing is further complicated by the revelation that the book is not\nby an omniscent third person but by Horn, who might very likely tend\ntoward hagiography. \n\nThe only chink in the ambiguity is that Silk knew the Whorl was surrounded\nby stars long before he saw them.  Is there an explanation for this other\nthan that the Outsider's enlightenment was real?  The best I can think of\nis that, as an engineered embryo, Silk might have some latent Mucor-like\npsi-powers that enabled him to see people all over the Whorl and pick up\nknowledge about the Whorl.  Or maybe Typhon planted some kind of\n\"time-bomb\" in his brain that when it went off would reveal to him the\nnature of the Whorl so that he could lead the Exodus. \n\nWas Silk really the devout, humble man Horn portrays him as?  Not only do\nwe have cause to doubt the Outsider's existence, but we don't really know\nhow much of Silk's good qualities were given to him by Horn.\n\nOne of my favorite parts of the series were the long prayers Silk prays,\nfirst to several of the gods, and then to the Outsider.  The prayers to\nMolpe and Tartaros and Hierax were very affecting in their echoes of the\nPsalms (will I die and never serve you again?), in their humility, and\nstrict self-examination.  \n\nBut then the contrast between these prayers and the prayer offered to the\nOutsider is even more beautiful.  In the first case, he promises to\nsacrifice animals if the gods will spare his life.  In the second, he\noffers his own life if the Outsider will forgive Silk's enemies (making\nSilk quite the Christ figure). \n\nBut how likely is it that Silk recounted his prayers to Horn?  Aren't\nthese more likely prayers Horn wrote to put in his mouth?  Only Wolfe\ncould make me sad that parts of a work of fiction might be fictional! \n\n-Rostrum"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0006-0349@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Michael Richman",
        "address": "mrichman at cybernex.net"
      },
      "date": "1997-06-14T02:17:50+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (whorl) Silk's Religion",
      "in_reply_to": "<whorl-v0005-0340@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "At 09:51 AM 6/10/97 -0400, you wrote:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "I think one of the most well-done parts of this series is the way it is\nable to portray Silk's religious experiences and faith in the Outsider in\na way that is compelling, but without the author definitively\nauthenticating them.  At the very beginning, when Silk was enlightened, I\nthought, \"This is interesting, Wolfe seems to be telling the reader that\nGod really exists in this universe.\"  And then when Crane made his casual\nstatement about brain seizures, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  "
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Wolfe seems to have it in for doctors.  In Soldier of the Mist [page 213],\nKichesippos, a doctor owned by the regent of the Rope Makers, examines Latro:\n\n[Kischesippos asks], \"Were you wearing a helmut when your injury occurred?\"\n\nI told him I did not know.\n\n\"That's right, you forget.  Is that your only symptom?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" I told him.\n\nIo said, \"Gods appear to him.  Sometimes.\"\n\nKichesippos sighed.  \"Occasional hallucinations...\"\n\n\n\nMichael Richman\n380 Homans Av\nCloster, NJ  07624\nmrichman at bc.cybernex.net"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}