Subject: (whorl) Wolfe's Answers

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 17:12:03 +0000

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

A great mixture of bland revelation and sneaky evasion, I must say!

[Mantis, having recently reread _The Fifth Head of Cerberus_, I must
report the discovery that Wolfe was calling interstellar ships
"starcrossers" long before I was. No doubt David Hartwell was trying to
come up with an "Ace Double" title that Wolfe might find acceptable.]

To me, the most interesting revelations are that Pike was Blood's
father, and that Pike's ghost was _not_ an aquastor ("not machine
made").

Another answer that begins to itch a little is the one about valleys
casting shadows.  I wonder if Wolfe is telling us that the Long Sun
doesn't work in quite the way we have theorized.  For example, suppose
that the shade is actually pulses of darkness that move along the sun's
length, rather than a dark segment that covers part of its
circumference? I find it suggestive in this regard that the poles of the
whorl are east and west. If the sun originates in the east (Mainframe)
and terminates in the west, we have a very earthlike sunrise/sunset. It
would also explain how we can have true darkness on the whorl. Can
anyone find any textual support for this idea? (Admittedly, the use of
the terms "shadelow" and "shadeup" seem to argue pretty forcefully
against it, but it's worth a look.)

I'm pleased to see that some of my opinions are supported, as well.  In
particular I'm happy to see that Mint is Mint, Typhon is Typhon, and
Quetzal is Quetzal, if you know what I mean.  It's also nice that Wolfe
confirmed that Oreb is a night chough! One certainty to hang onto, at
least!

     --vizcacha
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

---

From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 09:03:08 +0000

On Sun, 15 Jun 1997 David_Lebling at avid.com wrote:

> anyone find any textual support for this idea? 

In Exodus, when the group is at Mainframe, it is revealed that the shade
is some substance that is created at mainframe, shot out across the sun,
and then evaporates.   So you're "pulses of darkness" is just about right
on.

If you think about it, the only way you can have much darkness at all is
if the entire sun is blocked or turned off at the same time.  Otherwise
you'd have an effect like one of those halogen lamps that you point toward
the ceiling to light an entire room. 

And the way darkness is described, I got the impression of seeing the
lights of cities at night (like when we fly over cities at night on
Earth), not an entire hemi-cylinder of lit Whorl filling the night sky. 

-Rostrum