Clute's Non-Revelation

Thanks for the vote of confidence, several of you. I have a thought about Horn's eating habits, which certainly puzzled me too on first reading. It's awfully Wolfean. The fact is that the Horn body was sturdier, stockier and needed more food than the Silk body. Horn's habits and appetites remain as they were, but he must consciously curb them in his new body, or he would soon be overweight. But he DOES eat, unlike Fava, sweet little bean. -alga *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

It's always interesting to agree with Alga! I'll repeat what I wrote before, in case it did not get through: Being on a kind of continual fast is what Silk does. Now that Horn is in Silk's body (as most of us assume), he's got some of Silk's habits. "Eucharistically" (and Gattaca-like), he's living off the body and blood of another, the quasi-messianic Silk. It's affecting him. And since Wolfe has put human-inhumi relations at the center of the trilogy's concerns (by repeatedly calling attention to the mystery), it makes much more sense to see Horn as a character learning about that mystery, and learning to implement it. Whatever it may be. He needs to be a human being for this to work. Of course, Wolfe can fool us all! But I'm very unconvinced of this hypothesis. Now, a bit more on the secret. I suggested being willing to die for others, and specifically being willing to die for the inhumi, as the secret. It has now been suggested that voluntarily giving them one's blood might be the secret. "Eucharistically," that boils down to the same kind of thing. And it makes good sense to me as a theory, for now anyway. Finally, I note that Horn tried to save Fava by giving her his warmth. But that was not enough. Yet, it is a step along the say. Self-giving as the key. Patera Nutria *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

In-Reply-To: <200008211539.IAA19089 at lists1.best.com> Patera Nutria, Have just joined WHORL, and don't know etiquette within this august Theatre, but thought I'd tie this to yours on Silk to indicate my intuition that you are probably (though, as you say) not absolutely certainly right. That fasting is what Silk does escaped my memory, certainly, when I was laying down a first reading response to In Green's Jungles . But to make it absolutely clear what I was doing: no revelations were being hoicked into view, certainly not at this stage: I was laying down for readers far more general than WHORL's List some sense of the pattern of the book: it was, implicitly, an invocation to read out in the open. Oreb as Holy Spirit. Very fine. Especially if the bird, in human terms, could be defined as a giant paraclete. Best, John C *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

Thanx. The discussion had gone way beyond your original short review! Usually, I'm just "Nutria," but since I am ordained, I thought "Patera" would be fun on occasion (and I thought it might annoy Alga!). Pat. NUT! *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

In a message dated 8/21/00 2:15:59 PM, jclute at cix.compulink.co.uk writes: << Have just joined WHORL, and don't know etiquette within this august Theatre, <SNIP> Oreb as Holy Spirit. Very fine. Especially if the bird, in human terms, could be defined as a giant paraclete.

Dear John, A warm welcome to The Whorl which will benefit much from your learned presence. However, as acting officer of etiquette I find I must refer you to articles 32 and 27 of the Whorl Code which jointly prohibit blantant punnage and any libel of birds. But, really, how could you have known? Patrick O'Leary AUTHOR OF: DOOR NUMBER THREE, THE GIFT, OTHER VOICES, OTHER DOORS, THE IMPOSSIBLE BIRD <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/patri10629/">Patrick O'Leary's Home Page</A> http://members.aol.com/patri10629/ *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.