Tracking Song and The Call of the Wild

Roy C. Lackey · 18 Jun 2007, 04:55 · from 2007-June.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:55:40 -0500
Subject: (urth) Tracking Song and The Call of the Wild
Message-ID: <005001c7b164$ee89c240$d9c85a42 at rclackey.stic.net>

Matthew Groves quoted and wrote:
>> Nashhwonk later rose from the chair and walked around it. Is this
incident
>> "just a matter of how literal we're being"?
>
>Yes. If you accept that the Wiggikki are a wolf tribe, you should have no
>trouble accepting that Nashhwonk is a moose.

I have no trouble accepting the animal origins of the various beastmen
tribes or the retention of species-specific attributes as manifested by
their use of tools and weapons. But, *in the story*, those tools and weapons
are *really* tools and weapons, not just symbols. For instance, Cutthroat
made use of a sail and sledge he got from the wolfmen, and Cim used
Cutthroat's pocketknife and recorder. And all of the beastmen apparently
made use of fire.

>Maybe I should be clearer about at what level I'm looking at the story when
>I make these claims. There's more than one symbol here, and more than one
>meaning for each.

And this is the root of our divergent views. I tend to get down in the dirt
and follow the plow. The rising of the Pelerines' tent cathedral really was
due to a lot of hot air -- whether you choose to also call it a miracle or
not. <g> Severian and Dorcas, having witnessed the "miracle", discussed this
issue in chapter 32 of SHADOW, when he asked her if she knew the key to the
universe:

"The brown book is a collection of the myths of the past, and it has a
section listing all the keys of the universe--all the things people have
said were The Secret after they had talked to mystagogues on far worlds or
studied the popul vuh of the magicians, or fasted in the trunks of holy
trees. Thecla and I used to read them and talk about them, and one of them
was that everything, whatever happens, has three meanings. The first is its
practical meaning, what the book calls, 'the thing the plowman sees.' The
cow has taken a mouthful of grass, and it is real grass, and a real
cow--that meaning is as important and as true as either of the others. The
second is the reflection of the world about it. Every object is in contact
with all others, and thus the wise can learn of the others by observing the
first. That might be called the soothsayers' meaning, because it is the one
such people use when they prophesy a fortunate meeting from the tracks of
serpents or confirm the outcome of a love affair by putting the elector of
one suit atop the patroness of another."
  "And the third meaning?" Dorcas asked.
  "The third is the transsubstantial meaning. Since all objects have their
ultimate origin in the Pancreator, and all were set in motion by him, so all
must express his will--which is the higher reality."
[. . .]
" Dorcas nodded. I could see the glimmer of her pale hair in the moonlight.
"It seems to me that what you call the third meaning is very clear. But the
second meaning is harder to find, and the first, which ought to be the
easiest, is impossible."
__________________________________

I agree with Dorcas; it's a tough job, but someone has to do it. Whatever
the soothsayer may have to say about the grass, the cow can eat it only if
it's real grass. In TS, the surface story has to work or else the symbols
get hung out to dry.

In the surface story, the animal tribes are physically much nearer to human
form than they are to their respective animal forms. It is their collective,
almost-human nature that unites them despite their innate bestial
inclinations to war with one another for survival; they just need to be
reminded of it. Cutthroat failed the test the Min vizier game him when he
didn't kill Cim and Ketin, even when they were penned together. But at the
same time he passed the same test by *not* killing them, in his own eyes
and, presumably, in the ears of whomever was listening on the other end of
the transmitter when he recorded that day's events. It took cooperation
among species to escape the room, the underground city and for Cutthroat to
survive on the trail afterwards.

I have to figure out what happened in the story before I can figure out what
Wolfe meant by it. With Wolfe, that is often the bigger part of the battle.

> And then he sees something strange: "Who is that tall man with
>you [i.e., with y'all people standing on the Sleigh]?" So it's not
necessary
>to assume that Cutthroat has remembered anything at all.

Since you brought up alga's comments on this story, you may have noticed
that she also thought there was only one winged being on the Sleigh. Its
wings are what distinguish it from "you", whether "you" is singular, plural
or collective. As alga said, the Sleigh made several stops among the
beastmen tribes and none of them reported seeing any winged beings. They saw
people who looked and dressed like Cutthroat.

-Roy

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