The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by Rudesind

António Pedro Marques · 07 Jul 2010, 23:15 · from 2010-July.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?QW50w7NuaW8gUGVkcm8gTWFycXVlcw==?=)
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:15:00 +0100
Subject: (urth) The mystery of the image of an astronaut cleaned by
	Rudesind
In-Reply-To: <4C34F794.8040104 at gmail.com>
References: <SNT123-W256DB5C8585628C8109423CFB30 at phx.gbl>	<520E36C4-BC0B-4DFE-8F64-BC9EB1D9BF4C at liftingfaces.com>	<4C34A1F4.6030501 at gmail.com>	<F7C7A8D7-66C9-4746-9662-C742E53311FE at liftingfaces.com>	<AANLkTilkfznBstbta55hgfGmNqnPuJiBaxTBg1nk4CNf at mail.gmail.com>	<4C34C6AF.9060709 at gmail.com>	<4C34C8AF.70507 at gmail.com>	<152f839bbd02f83fc03a5318462443d7.squirrel at brunians.org>	<4C34D82D.5070500 at gmail.com>	<4C34DA51.8040901 at gmail.com>	<4C34ED71.2020108 at gmail.com>	<4C34EDED.3070502 at gmail.com>	<DB46B940-E4FD-4BE0-8DDD-0E11013AA2C6 at liftingfaces.com>	<4C34F29D.3080805 at gmail.com>
	<4C34F794.8040104 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4C350A74.3050306 at gmail.com>

James Wynn wrote (07-07-2010 22:54):
> On 7/7/2010 4:33 PM, Ant?nio Pedro Marques wrote:
>> Whereas you've done the reverse: you think everything in the stpry
>> must serve some purpose, yet speculation is free to roam.
>
> I think his point was "Inire is repeatedly compared to a monkey. This
> comes up several times with other characters. Are these flags that Inire
> is or has been in other guises. If not, what does Wolfe's repeated use
> of these simian signifiers mean? Why do they occur repeatedly?"
>
> I don't know if he's on to something or not. But saying "I don't see how
> this changes anything" is just not an answer. A lot times, you don't
> know a plot element changes anything until a good while after you've
> accepted it as true.

I'm positing it as true - say, Rudesind is Inire. And I'm asking 'and now 
what?'. And I'm not getting an answer.

As to the significance of the simian signifiers, it could of course be that 
wherever they're present we're dealing with an agent of Inire. Never 
disputed that. Though I find it a wild stretch.

Or maybe they tell us more about the characters' idea of monkeys than of the 
beings being characterised.

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