Subject: (whorl) Who wrote "Silk is Calde"

From: David_Lebling <david_lebling at avid.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1997 10:13:46 +0000

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

mantis wrote:

>>3) Who was writing "Silk is Calde" five floors up?  From
>>the context, early in _Calde_, it might have been Quetzal,
>>or maybe Mucor.

>You really ought to read the passage you refer to again.  Please.
>(III, 20).  (Unless, like Jahi, you =intend= to mislead! <g>)

mantis, that was me, not algae.  I reread the passage [III, 6 in the
paperback edition], and aside from it not giving an exact wording of
what was written, I don't see any problem with my question or proposed
answer.

What I meant is that Quetzal is telling Remora that he saw such a
scrawling, and "went wide."  (That's an interesting remark in itself, as
Quetzal is about to associate the Chapter with Silk's revolution; why
would he go wide of a graffito five stories up?  Guilty conscience,
perhaps?)

But by "from the context," I meant both the physical context of the
writing (high off the ground), and the fact that a few paragraphs
earlier, Quetzal is talking about the Garden of Eden story, and of
course he is the "cobra."  Why might he not be the graffiti artist as
well?  "Silk for Calde" might well be equivalent to "Have an apple,
Wo-man" in terms of the goals of the snakes involved.

Only mentioned Mucor because I am still curious as to exactly what her
physical abilities during asomatous travel are.  Could she write such a
slogan?  (Actually, I doubt she could or would, but...)

Why do you consider my question misleading?

     Dave
     (david_lebling at avid.com)

Questions or problems to whorl-owner at lists.best.com