Subject: (whorl) Clute's Non-Revelation

From: akt <akt at attglobal.net>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 18:04:01 +0000

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

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From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 17:25:58 +0000

>unlike Fava, sweet little bean.

	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

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From: John Clute <jclute at cix.compulink.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 18:02:00 +0000

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

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From: Jim Jordan <jbjordan at gnt.net>
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 14:56:45 +0000

At 07:02 PM 8/21/2000 +0100, you wrote:
>In-Reply-To: <200008211539.IAA19089 at lists1.best.com>
>Patera Nutria,

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!

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From: Patri10629 <patri10629 at aol.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 23:40:10 +0000

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/