Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

David Stockhoff · 16 Nov 2011, 15:29 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:29:34 -0500
Subject: (urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy
In-Reply-To: <SNT123-W7D14F10E03D4737027CE0CFC60 at phx.gbl>
References: <SNT123-W7D14F10E03D4737027CE0CFC60 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <4EC3D6DE.3090409 at verizon.net>

On 11/16/2011 10:16 AM, Lee Berman wrote:
> Likewise this is true for Babbie (hus=pig) and Pig and goddes Phaea. The gender
> confusion should not distract us from the pattern. Wolfe does this gender confusion
> all the time, and with purpose. As humans, we have a built in bias toward the
> primacy of gender (what's the first thing spoken of a newborn baby?). Wolfe is right
> on the mark to make gender ambiguous for non-human characters and to play with our
> built in prejudices on the subject.
>
> Antonio suggested that the male caller couldn't be Mucor because of gender but I'm not
> so sure, based on this principle. Wolfe has been criticized for his treatment of
> female characters but I think he is somewhat misunderstood. He is not a materialist.
> A person's spirit may react differently when encased in a body which happens to have
> a penis vs. a vagina. But ultimately it is the spirit which matters most.
>
> I think the "card" theme found in Long Sun is worth mentioning here. Aside from the
> electronic meaning, I think the playing card analogy is also intended. Cards are
> always being dealt out, then reuinified into a deck, shuffled and dealt out again in
> different combinations. This is what happens with spirits also. And this process is
> what we are seeing in Long/Short Sun.

Good points.

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