Dionysus

Lee Berman · 20 Dec 2010, 17:47 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:47:20 -0500
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
Message-ID: <SNT123-W429410C1B61D15A8ED915ACF190 at phx.gbl>

>David: Great! I like James's Neighborly explanation, but the pit is not explained by it. 
>Why is a pit lying there?

Yes, I think Marc and James share far more in their theories than they differ. Not only
does Marc share the Horn-Neighbor idea but they share in seeing the significance of trees
and vines, which many do not.

I am not nearly as familiar with Long/Short Sun as BotNS so with hesitation I call into 
question only the part about the pit. In a recent re-reading I notice the pit has new
growth plants in it, in contrast to the surrounding mature trees. Also there is a ring
of blue glass around the pit, and together they suggest to me that the pit is the former
resting place of a large spaceship which blasted off a while ago; long enough for shrubs to
grow but not trees. I'm not sure if this could be incoporated into the existing theories of
others but I can't ignore the glass and shrubs.

Marc your idea on human blood interacting with trees and vines to form Neighbors and 
Inhumi is quite fascinating. I'm not the only one who sees echoes of 5HoC Shadow Children
in Inhumi. Your idea might even suggest a parallel to that other shapeshifting, imitative
group from Ste. Anne, the Abos. Both Abos and Neighbors seem to have a quasi-Native American
naming system and way of life.

>Giving the world to humanity be eating all of them.  Somewhat sinister, no?

Yes! But not totally. I think my view of Neighbors and Inhumi is more symbiotic. They have 
become entwined within this ecosystem and perhaps the Neighbors have given Blue to humanity
to feed the Inhumi, not so much themselves (they are the Vanished, or vanishing, People).

I say not totally sinister because it may be that the remaining Neighbors find value in their
symbiosis with Inhumi which seems to allow dream travel (again like Shadow Children). Perhaps
there is the perception that adding humanity to the mix will be of benefit to all three species.
There remains a lot of conflict to work out, as evidenced by the wedding scene at the end of 
RttW.

On the other hand, from a Christian perspective this does seem like a sinister ecosystem/universe. 
Where is the Salvation? Apologies for harping but I keep getting the impression that Wolfe is 
suggesting such nasty hybridization is the best a gnostic universe can hope for in the absence of a 
(purifying?) presence like Christ.

(I must toss in the heretical suggestion that Wolfe's choice to set some of his major stories in
non-Christian settings implies that while Salvation is a desired goal (personal or planetary), 
it provides less substance of literary interest than a world populated by gods, vampires, monsters, 
and angels.)

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