Subject: (whorl) RE: Digest whorl.v010.n043

From: Roberson, John <robersonj at bek.com>
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 07:48:27 +0000

Fellow Wolfeans:

I'm new to the Whorl and would like to discuss OBW, but don't know whether
everyone has read it yet, so SPOILER WARNING regarding the questions below.

Once again, Gene is playing identity games with us regarding Horn.  Yes,
he's definitely been back to the Long Sun Whorl after being hijacked to
Green and my impression is, as a reminiescing narrator from the future,
looking back, he'll lead us through his adventures on Green in IGJ and then
write about his one-and-only trip back to the Whorl in RTTW.  He's dropped
the hint in OBW to the effect that a surgeon talked about "Pas-silk",
intimating that Silk's physical body had Pas' (Typhon program's) head
grafted on it in the "real world" during his stay on the LS Whorl.  He also
mentioned that he was pretty sure Silk was scanned into mainframe and
potentially merged with the Pas program as Kypris suggested, in the "virtual
world".  Horn also affects Silk's attitudes frequently, dresses in augur's
robes, and is apparently mistaken for Silk by Oreb and occasionally refers
to himself as though he's Silk.  So...I get the dfistinct impression that,
unable to leave the LS Whorl, the Silk program had Horn look into the
monitor at it and transferred some of Silk's essence into him, "possessing"
him to the extent of giving him some of Silk's identity.  This would be the
only way Silk could provide New Viron and Blue with his leadership (or the
leadership of someone possessing---no pun intended---similar abilities)
without actually leaving the LS Whorl.  This would explain Horn's
references.
	Also, does anyone care to speculate about the secret of the inhumu?
It would seem that their chameleon-like body-shaping goes even further to
imitating the intelligence and anger/hatred of man for them and other men.
There is a passage to the effect that if humans would only be more caring,
then the inhumu would revert back to beasts in the jungle.  Also, Krait
becomes more like Horn and Horn's son as Horn begins relating to him as his
son by proxy.  If people only loved one another, does this mean that inhumu
would be unable to prey on them and eventually slink back into the jungles
of Green?  It would appear in the Long Sun series that Quetzal absorbed some
of the benign aspects of their religion while masquerading as a human and
Prolocutor.

	Anyway, interested in your comments.  If we're still adopting
Vironese names, call me Ram.

> ----------
> From:
> whorl-errors at lists.best.com[SMTP:whorl-errors at lists.best.com]
> Reply To: 	whorl at lists.best.com
> Sent: 	Wednesday, November 03, 1999 2:10 PM
> To: 	whorl at lists.best.com
> Subject: 	Digest whorl.v010.n043
> 
> 
> -------------- BEGIN whorl.v010.n043 --------------
> 
>     001 - =?iso-8859-1?q?Nicholas=2 - Clute's review of OBW
>     002 - "William H. Ansley" <wans - Re: (whorl) Clute's review of OBW
> 
> WHORL Digest -- for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun
> 
> 
> --------------- MESSAGE whorl.v010.n043.1 ---------------
> 
> From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Nicholas=20Gevers?= <vermoulian at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Clute's review of OBW
> Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 11:20:30 -0800 (PST)
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
> 
> A very interesting review of ON BLUE'S WATERS by John
> Clute appears online in the latest SF WEEKLY. He
> states that Tor will release both IN GREEN'S JUNGLES
> and RETURN TO THE WHORL in 2000, and speculates
> (perhaps on the basis of textual inference, perhaps
> from privileged information) that RETURN TO THE WHORL
> concerns events that occur after Horn's writing of ON
> BLUE'S WATERS.
> 
> 
> =====
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
> 
> 
> --------------- MESSAGE whorl.v010.n043.2 ---------------
> 
> From: "William H. Ansley" <wansley at warwick.net>
> Subject: Re: (whorl) Clute's review of OBW
> Date: Wed, 3 Nov 1999 00:19:50 -0500
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> In-Reply-To: <199911021910.LAA02210 at lists1.best.com>
> 
> >A very interesting review of ON BLUE'S WATERS by John
> >Clute appears online in the latest SF WEEKLY. He
> >states that Tor will release both IN GREEN'S JUNGLES
> >and RETURN TO THE WHORL in 2000, and speculates
> >(perhaps on the basis of textual inference, perhaps
> >from privileged information) that RETURN TO THE WHORL
> >concerns events that occur after Horn's writing of ON
> >BLUE'S WATERS.
> 
> Interesting is hardly the word for Clute's speculation, quoted above. It
> don't make no sense! I think it is pretty clear that Horn has visited and
> returned from The Whorl already by the time he has written OBW from the
> hints contained within. If that is so, then shouldn't the title of the
> final book be _Re-return to the Whorl_?
> 
> Well, one more reason I just can't wait.
> 
> William Ansley
> 
> "Having re-redisposed of the monster, our hero exits stage right."
> -Bugs Bunny
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------- END whorl.v010.n043 ---------------
> 
> 
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> 

*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.
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