Dionysus

Gerry Quinn · 07 Dec 2010, 16:58 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: gerryq at indigo.ie (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 16:58:06 -0000
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
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Message-ID: <63ADBCD5EFE04B69BFB3F2A5246ED44E@jill>


From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
>
>>> " 'My name is Horn.' I offered my hand.
>>> He took it, and this time I felt his hand _and remembered it_ . It was
>>> hard, and seemed to be covered with short, stiff hairs. Beyond that I
>>> will not say."[oBW HB 272]
>> Roy-
>> I don't see why you attach such importance to that quote. It has nothing 
>> to
>> do with what happened in the pit. It is a direct reference to what 
>> Silkhorn
>> wrote on page 267, about the first moments after the Neighbor woke Horn 
>> and
>> told him to get up and come with him:
>>
>>      " 'Come with me,' he said, and he helped me to stand up, grasping 
>> both
>> my hands while lifting me under the arms. I ought to remember how his 
>> hands
>> felt, I am sure - but I do not. My mind was on other things, perhaps.
>>      "He strode off through the trees, then turned to me and took my hand
>> again to make certain that I was following him."
>
> I don't know why you can't see this is an important quote. First of all, 
> HORN is up-front about holding information back here. In a first person 
> memoir, that's a _big_ deal. And the scene involves memory...which is 
> obviously also significant in a memoir. It's a big, big deal.
>
> Even your reading of the quote is a strange one. But I say, by default 
> HORN/Rajan can't or chooses not to remember his Neighborly past. This 
> moment gives him access to those memories although he chooses to reject 
> them.

Roy's reading makes a lot of sense.  He has previously mentioned that he 
doesn't remember what the neighbour's hands were loike on one occasion, so 
he mentions them now.

I agree the "Beyond that I will not say" part is a bit odd - if he just 
means he can't remember more details about the Neighbour, why not just say 
it directly?  But I think it is a great leap to go from that oddness to 
anything very specific...

- Gerry Quinn

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