some mysterious stuff in Long Sun

James Wynn · 17 Jan 2011, 21:31 · from 2011-January.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2011 15:31:54 -0600
Subject: (urth) some mysterious stuff in Long Sun
In-Reply-To: <475020.32102.qm at web161801.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
References: <475020.32102.qm at web161801.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <4D34B54A.5020806 at gmail.com>

>> [Has anyone explain why thetis is a password?]
>> I have, but you'd have to accept that Wolfe is doing
>> something extra-textually with the story to accept that;
>> that is, drawing from the Illiad, Robert Graves, etc
> Marc Aramini-
> Fair enough, James.  It can't hurt to consider it, I just don't like Tussah as a clone of Typhon because of the pages of puzzling Horn does about how Chenille does not in any way shape or form resemble Silk when she is supposed to be Tussah's daughter, and Silk his step son.  That's all.  I guess it can be enlightening but sometimes one to one relationships seem a bit altered.  (ie - if we can't find a good reason in the text for Tussah to even look like Silk, then its hard for me to accept.  He is bald and bearded older, right?  The body of Silk has long hair, Horn was the bald one.  Its just the statement that Chenille is his genetic daughter and the lengths Horn goes to to say how she resembles Auk way more than Silk really put a wrench in that ID for me).

The thing about Wolfe that you often have to have multiple (seemingly? 
yes) valid conclusions that run in opposite directions. Wolfe can be 
ambiguous, so when conclusions collide, I recheck that the evidences are 
_really_ there and that there are, on the whole, no equally valid 
conclusions for those evidences. Once I'm satisfied with that, I keep 
both ideas in my head until something comes along to dislodge one or 
they can merge:

* Silk is a clone of Typhon
* Silk is the son of Typhon
* Chenille is the "natural" daughter of Tussah
* Chenille seems unnaturally more like Tussah in drag
* Either Tussah has blue eyes like Typhon and Silk
* Silk's fathers sound like Lemur

I can't release any of these points at this time. They all strike me as 
more or less apparent. I think you have to embrace the ambiguity in 
order beat these puzzles. If you're just looking for someone in the 
story to explain it to you, you will find the explanation. But you'll 
also find someone who will verify that it ain't so.

Consequently, I frequently need  a way way to back-stop myself. Since it 
is so often the case that Wolfe has characters overlay characters from 
mythology or literature, I choose the one that best fits an established 
pattern of literary references. In the case of the Book of the Long Sun, 
that's Aristaeus or The Binding of Zeus or a handfull of others.

> So, enlighten me. What is the significance of the tessera Thetis again?

http://www.urth.org/whorlmap/binding_zeus.htm
It is from the obscure story referenced in the Illiad of when the god's 
overthrew Zeus and bound him to a chair. The Nereid Thetis, the Olympian 
Godfather of favor-doers and the mother of Achilles, rescues him by 
releasing the hundred-handed Briarius from Tartaros.
Additionally, Wolfe is having Silk and Auk divide the acts of 
Hesphaestus (Vulcan) between them--you see, Hesphaestus was taken in by 
Thetis when his mother threw him off of Olympus (Tussah). So we find Auk 
in the undersea cave with 'thetis'.

But Wolfe is using Graves' retelling of this story or a text that is 
using Graves' retelling or (less likely) the version Graves is drawing 
from. I say this because the Illiad mentions three key players in the 
take-over (Hera, Poseidon, Athena) while Graves mentions four (H, P, A, 
and Apollo) and it is the demonic version of these four that Quetzal names.

u+16b9

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