Subject: (whorl) Silk's body or another?

From: Fernando Q. Gouvea <fqgouvea at colby.edu>
Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 13:03:08 +0000

**** On Tue, 8 Aug 2000 17:29:09 +0100, "Ian Smith" <iancsmith at 4unet.co.uk> said:

Ian> would be that bloke from 'the book of Silk'.  Yup, I'm proposing that
Ian> both Horn AND Silk are occupying a third (unknown) body at the
Ian> 'present of OBW and IGJ, which would explain both the narrator's lack
Ian> of recognition of being in Silk's body and also his circling a
Ian> physical description of Silk out of Gaon in order to 'locate' him.  As
Ian> I said I'm reading through again to check, and anyone with evidence
Ian> against please step forward.....

Could someone cite chapter and verse about this business of a physical
description of Silk being circulated by Horn? I just reread OBW, and didn't
find it. It's always possible I was momentarily distracted, but I think the
closest passage is this, on page 18:

"Silk may be here on Blue already, after all. I have dispatched letters to
Han and some other towns, and we will see. It is convenient, I find, to
have messengers at one's beck and call." 

...and so on. Nothing here about a physical description, though he says

"... I write new letters subtracting some facts and adding others,
composing flatteries and threats I hope will bring this town and that to my
assistance..."

One can almost read this passage as if he's trying to convince other towns
to acknowledge *he* is Silk... though I don't think that's what it really
means. Note also, that on page 25, he says:

"No more letters. What farce!"

I still think the likeliest reading of all this is that Horn knows he is in
Silk's body, but it's clear that for complete clarification one must know
what happened in the Whorl, and we don't at this point. It would be useful
for someone to collect all the references we have so far about this. For
example, there are references to Pig, to Olivine getting him the augur's
robe and giving him her eye. There seem to be references to some contact
with the head of the chapter in the Whorl (Incus?). Has anyone tried to
collect all of these?

Fernando

-- 

Fernando Q. Gouvea                      
Department of Mathematics          Editor, FOCUS and MAA Online
Colby College                      Mathematical Association of America
Waterville, ME 04901               http://www.maa.org
fqgouvea at colby.edu                      
==========================================================

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today --
I think he's from the CIA.

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---

From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2000 23:29:04 +0000

> ...and so on. Nothing here about a physical description, though he says

I think I'm the one who started the "physical description" bit, and
since the passage you quote is the one I was thinking of, I was
evidently wrong.  What happened, I think, was that I originally reasoned
that if Silk were on Blue, he would be trying to stay hidden (otherwise
he would be known already), and so the only way Horn could find him
would be through a physical description.  Then, not having a copy of OBW
with me, I misremembered this as Horn explicitly mentioning a physical
description.

But the broader mystery remains, and is even sharpened by IGJ: if
mantis's interpretation of the spirit-transference scene is correct--and
I believe it is--and if Horn knows it's in Silk's body that he was
placed, then he shouldn't be hoping to find Silk on Blue, in any body. 
Of course, something may have happened on the Whorl that we don't know
about to change that.

--Adam