{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/824",
    "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": 824,
    "subject": "Swallow as god",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "2000-04-20T06:01:03+00:00",
    "last": "2000-04-20T13:55:43+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0010-0332@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Nicholas Gevers",
        "address": "vermoulian at yahoo.com"
      },
      "date": "2000-04-20T06:01:03+00:00",
      "subject": "(whorl) Swallow as god",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "One of the more problematic passages in THE BOOK OF\nTHE LONG SUN occurs in Chapter 7 of EXODUS, “The Brown\nMechanics”. Why did Wolfe include such a long\ndemonstration of the process for manufacturing\ntaluses, combined with discussion of business ethics\nand much besides? Various people have criticised the\npassage as boring, extraneous, self-indulgent, etc.\nI’d like to venture an explanation for Chapter 7, in\nthe hope that it’s an original insight.\n\nExisting discussions have focused on Chapter 7’s\nexpression of Wolfe’s personal background as a\nmaterials engineer (concealed autobiography, Wolfe as\nSwallow) and the paradox of how a long technical\ndisquisition can fail utterly to explain the main\nwonder of the taluses, that they are intelligent and\ncapable of volition—John Gerlach sees this as part of\nthe strategy of Science Fantasy, the simultaneous\nrendition of the scientific and the magical. Swallow\nis really an alchemist, in that sense. And there is of\ncourse the humorous component, the plight of an\nunemployed robot…\n\nBut valid though these perspectives are, I’d like to\nadd to them. Consider the topic of discussion in\nChapter 7: loosely, the relationship between Swallow,\nthe Boss, the Engineer, the Contractor, and his\nworkers, products, and clients. The chief problem the\npassage raises is that of Engineer and Product, or,\njust as accurately, that of Creator and his creations.\nSwallow manufactures taluses, which Silk describes as\na kind of human being; somehow, Swallow invests raw\nmaterials with life, and is master and seller of these\nnewly living beings, and this is a morally fraught\nsituation. But consider further: all of Swallow’s\nvisitors are created beings in a very specific sense.\nSilk and Mucor began as embryos with special latent\ntalents, and were brought to term at the behest of\npowerful men (Tussah, Blood) so that they might\nusefully express those talents. Marble is a chem, a\nrobot, built to serve, which she continues to do as a\nvocation. And Oreb is a genetically or otherwise\naugmented bird, changed to function apparently as an\noracular medium for gods (the Outsider and Scylla).\nSilk, Mucor, Marble, and Oreb are like the taluses;\ntheir discussion with Swallow is a discussion of their\nown plights and limitations. For Swallow, read Pas, or\neven the Outsider, an articulate stand-in for a\nCreator g(G)od; for taluses, read created beings\ngenerally.\n\nIn other words, Chapter 7 is a disguised discussion of\nthe responsibilities of the Creator and the duties of\nh(H)is creations. As such, it’s theologically central\nto LONG SUN, and has many important implications,\nwhich others may choose to explore…\n\n\n=====\nNicholas Gevers\nAssociate Editor, Infinity Plus\n(http://www.infinityplus.co.uk)"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<whorl-v0010-0333@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Patri10629",
        "address": "patri10629 at aol.com"
      },
      "date": "2000-04-20T13:55:43+00:00",
      "subject": "Re: (whorl) Swallow as god",
      "in_reply_to": "<whorl-v0010-0332@digest.urth.net>",
      "reply_link": "subject",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Good one, Nick. Well done.\n\nIt now makes lots of sense.\n\nPatrick O'Leary\n\n*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}