And Now For Something Completely

Gerry Quinn · 17 Nov 2011, 13:08 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: gerry at bindweed.com (Gerry Quinn)
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:08:23 -0000
Subject: (urth) And Now For Something Completely
In-Reply-To: <80769FB5E412409B9741A2188696E50C@Rover>
References: <163817.55332.qm at web58206.mail.re3.yahoo.com><006a01cba98c$08dce140$76d04a0c@rclackey><4EC2EA57.6050603 at verizon.net><4EC2F7F8.50603 at verizon.net><4EC32090.3080402 at gmail.com><B9D6EE0B77924CE3B3A6141A77AE9C7B@Rover><4EC3D6A0.3010702 at gmail.com><785184038C7F43F5B8904AF2ACEEDAEC@Rover><4EC3EA56.5040304 at verizon.net><269ABB99AB7A4844B481781484E4FFE0@Rover><4EC3F0F1.8050004 at gmail.com><361A3DF9EDE34095B43F57AFC934C667@Rover><4EC3FB63.7010301 at gmail.com><8B62A70E4701459087B6534260A0D361@Rover><4EC40D79.1080009 at gmail.com><1321475183.4717.YahooMailNeo at web30808.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
	<80769FB5E412409B9741A2188696E50C@Rover>
Message-ID: <E4E07FA9DE82423F9AB2C3868BB669F3@Rover>



From: Gerry Quinn 
> Pig appears to have carried some of Pas/Silk?s personality, which
> became trapped when he was blinded.
Pigs should be associated with Phaea, but there?s no obvious connection here.  Perhaps Wolfe was thinking of the phrase ?a silk purse in a sow?s ear?.
As is generally the case in Wolfe, names are atmospheric, and often tell us something in story context (e.g. the animal-vegetable-mineral naming scheme in Viron) but more abstruse references never tell us anything of significance that isn?t made clear in other ways.   [Perhaps there are exception ? I don?t know if this applies to the Soldier series, for example.  But elsewhere Rhea Silvia and Suzanne Delage are perhaps the best examples of very clear and direct allusions, and in both cases they only tell us something we already know.  Chasing vague allusions never leads anywhere important in Wolfe, unless it alerts you to where he has told you the same thing more plainly.]  
- Gerry Quinn
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