Digest whorl.v011.n029
The Whorl list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 26 Aug 2000
https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/whorl/981

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Alice Turner — 26 Aug 2000, 11:29

From Sieur Borski:

> alga then continuing:
> 
> <This may well be true in "The Night Chough," which only you and
> mantis seem
> to have read. But there's not a tweak of evidence for it in the five
> books
> we have all read. Scylla has apparently been there (for the story),
> done
> that and skedaddled.>
> 
> I'm curious, alga, if you have any thoughts about why then in GREEN's
> Proper
> Names In The Text, Wolfe parenthetically includes information about
> how
> Scylla is "also a sea-monster of the Red Sea Whorl"--since it doesn't
> seem
> to play (selon toi) a part in the Green narrative at all. Also curious
> if
> you're still holding to your Mother-as-undine theory, and how you fit
> undines into the Short Sun weltanschauung.

The Red Sun Whorl is, of course, Urth. And if Urth is Earth in any way
Scylla is indeed a sea-monster of ancient mythology. But I have no idea
why wicked Mr. Wolfe identified her that way and I agree that it seems
left fieldish. I had forgotten that I ever advanced the Mother-as-undine
theory--you have a good memory! No, I don't hold to it now; the Mother
seems rather more complicated than an undine. I wonder if we will ever
know more about her--perhaps not. There are some equally mysterious
Mothers in German mythology that continue to baffle.

> Falcon then ruminating:
> 
> <Just because Oreb sees Scylla in the lake and another person sees
> Scylla
> walking beside Oreb and someone else doesn't prove that Oreb is being
> ridden
> by Scylla.  What we see of Scylla, for example when she rides
> Chenille, is a
> personality that exhibits vicious and bloodthirsty characteristics
> utterly
> foreign to Oreb's character. [snip] A Scylla-ridden Oreb would be a
> much
> different, and less likable and wise, bird.>
> 
> Oreb, in "The Night Chough," is a somewhat more sinister figure, even
> going
> so far as to suggest which weapons Starling use to avenge the murder
> of his
> girlfriend. Then again, the murderers (who also sexually assault Lily)

are

> hardly sympathetic figures. (Hurry up, Kevin M. and reread the story.

Surely

> others on the list have read TNC?)

I suppose Wombat will take me to task for copyright violation if I
publically wonder if anyone could be persuaded to photocopy this story
and pass it out to those interested. (In fact, Wombat, it's not a
violation if it's for private use.) If someone sent ME a copy, I would
gladly act as a conduit just so we could all figure out what we're
talking about here.

-alga


*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

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Kevin J. Maroney — 26 Aug 2000, 14:23
  follows, by subject match Alice Turner

> At 11:29 AM 8/26/00 -0400, you wrote:
> I suppose Wombat will take me to task for copyright violation if I
> publically wonder if anyone could be persuaded to photocopy this story
> and pass it out to those interested. 

Me? No, never. <whistles quietly and looks the other way>

> (In fact, Wombat, it's not a violation if it's for private use.) 

That's not precisely true: copying is perfectly allowed for *personal*
use--i.e., if you own a work, you can make copies of it for your own use. 

But this is clearly limited copying for valid purposes of scholarship. I
don't think anyone would contest that this is reasonable fair use, no
different than copying out of a library. 

> If someone sent ME a copy, I would
> gladly act as a conduit just so we could all figure out what we're
> talking about here.

I'll see what I can do about getting you a copy. 

  --
  Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at ungames.com
  Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
  http://www.nyrsf.com
  
  *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

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