Grand Unified Theory

Lee Berman · 28 Aug 2010, 13:53 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 09:53:02 -0400
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
Message-ID: <SNT123-W85EDDB6571420D4975E72CF870 at phx.gbl>

>Dave Tallman- I realize this is just a dream, but why did Mora become Hyacinth
>rather than Fava? Why did  Fava become Orpine?

Well! I bumped into the dream sequence Dave partially posted last night and had
the intention of starting a new thread on it but I was beaten to it! Actually I
think this dream addresses another of James' theories (though to me they are all
interrelated).

In addition to the stuff about Scylla and Fava and Mora and Orpine and Hyacinth 
(and Vadsig's hair color) this dream mentions: 

>"the immense boles of the trees we passed and the monstrous, hairless beasts we
>glimpsed showed that we were on Green, I knew (as one "knows" all such senseless
>things in dreams) that we could never reach the sea unless I drove"

First, I broadly agree with James. There is no such thing as "just a dream" in 
Wolfe's fiction. Unlike a real dream, product of one's irrational subconsious, 
Wolfean dreams are the product of a cunning, rational, very conscious intelligence. 
As such they can often be taken as more clear and understandable than what passes 
for the "real world" in a Wolfe story.

The "monstrous hairless beasts" on Green may hint at James' other theory regarding
the trees and vines of Green as Neighbors and Inhumi. So for James I think this dream 
might be a twofer one low, low price.

For me the dream is all tied together to itself and to the other mysteries of the story. 
Like a certain painting in Rudesind's gallery. What seems to be a confusing collection of 
blobs of color will resolve itself into a recognizable picture if one will only step back 
far enough.

This probably isn't very profound, but for me, what I see in Short Sun, is an 
ecological system which involves three species, humans, Neigbors and Inhumi and two 
planets, Blue and Green (or perhaps Urth is distantly involved too). The participants 
in this ecological system are all (now) conscious and intelligent which is unusual for
an ecosystem.  But the participants do not fully understand their roles (least of all 
humans). Identity and conscious-sharing confuse the picture greatly.

There is, as in all ecosystems, competition and symbiosis between the species. Conflict 
and violence in the story can be a way of representing this. Why did Chenille (possessed
by Mucor?) stab Orpine (whom the dream associates with Fava). I think we can step back
and guess that this represents a conflict between human and inhumi.

Why is there an initial animosity followed by an uneasy truce between Babbie and Seawrack
on the boat? Perhaps it represents an endless competition/conflict between Neighbors and 
Inhumi, with a typically befuddled human (Horn and reader) on the sidelines wondering what 
the hell is going on. (I do think The Mother and Seawrack are derived/evolved from Inhumi 
as the shapeshifting and predatory nature remains true.)

And so on for other issues in Short Sun.  It works for me anyway. Just keeping a relatively 
simple, easy to underand GUT in mind helps me assemble the individual pieces which are so 
confusing and vague and nearly impossible to understand on their own.

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