Like a good Neighbor

David Stockhoff · 20 Nov 2011, 14:41 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:41:33 -0500
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
In-Reply-To: <02D42C5978BB452092908DA0FA49188C@Rover>
References: <002001cca714$e3ec4b00$abcf4a0c@rclackey><4EC862F3.8090209 at gmail.com>
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	<02D42C5978BB452092908DA0FA49188C@Rover>
Message-ID: <4EC9119D.8040706 at verizon.net>

On 11/20/2011 9:36 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
> *From:* Ant?nio Pedro Marques <mailto:entonio at gmail.com>
>
> Having read as far as the chapter ?Krait?, the idea that he was 
> replaced by a Neighbour in the pit seems bizarre to me. Just consider 
> the most obvious point: he needs the help of an inhumu to get out! And 
> to get it he betrays his wife and family. Unless you think this 
> Neighbour is a spy for his race and a rather nasty piece of work, or a 
> very impulsive and impulsive creature with no conscience, how do you 
> explain this?

So what? You'll have to outline your objection a little better. When 
does a Wolfe character ever take complete moral responsibility for 
everything? What do the Neighbors owe him after unkilling him?
> The ?glittering eyes? he sees while lying semi-conscious, and the 
> ?long nosed man or spider? that he apparently sees with his eyes 
> closed are presumably Neighbours. [Are we supposed to think of 
> Severian? Doesn?t make much sense for him to be there though.] The 
> long-nosed man seemingly uses a device on him that sends him on a 
> short astral excursion. I think it is likely that this device 
> *changed* him in some way by granting him or causing him to develop 
> certain psychic abilities (they probably developed as a consequence of 
> his temporary exposure as well as subsequent experimentation and other 
> events). But he is still Horn.
> Assuming the Neighbours were present and are essentially benevolent, 
> it seems they could not help him in the obvious way, i.e. by getting 
> him out of the pit, as Krait did. But this ties in very well with the 
> notion that they are half-in, half-out of our dimension, and are 
> limited in their physical abilities (see also the corpses in the sewer 
> on Green).

As fairies always are.

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