Like a good Neighbor

Lee Berman · 21 Nov 2011, 16:54 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:54:09 -0500
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
Message-ID: <SNT123-W59D2F60F1BC94C016FF159CFCB0 at phx.gbl>

>David Stockhoff: For that matter, it is really easy to imagine the Green Man 
>(Man of Green?) in his natural habitat, behaving very much like a faun. He's not 
>quite a fairy, as those people are beings of power and pomp. Fauns have 
>none. 

Yes. But it sounds like you have a good sense of how Dionysus, Pan and fauns
of the Greeks evolved through the Roman, spread across Europe and eventually became 
such characters as Oberon, Titania and Puck for a certain Elizabethan playwright.

>Neighbors do seem to be a little of both. I'm skeptical of conflating 
>them, but fauns are plainly an important literary forerunner to the Sun 
>Cycle.

Skeptical you should be. That's what Wolfe wants. Horn describes the Neighbor's hand
as hard and with short stiff hairs. Then he says, "I will say no more". Meaning there
is more to say. But if Wolfe says it, it will render his work ridiculous, in his own
eyes.

I mean, what if Wolfe had said "the hand had a resemblance to a cloven hoof, the eyes 
had a vertical slit pupil. Short horns sprouted behind the ears and there was a bleat to
his voice as he sang a greek hymn and drank from his jug of wine"?

That's the sort of thing that might make Gerry happy but Wolfe wouldn't have made such 
avid devotees of readers such as you and me and many others if he did stuff like that.

>Gerry Quinn: Interesting that you admit for the first time your history of personal attacks 
>on me, rather than accusing me of what is your technique, not mine.  Why the change?

I detect a note of pain. My apologies Gerry, for any cutting, hurtful remarks I may have made. 
>From your approach to addressing the posts of others, I thought that was your preferred means 
of communication. I thought you were a warrior who relished battle on all levels. I will try 
hard to be more aware of your sensitive, vulnerable side in the future.

>I shan?t comment further.

Good luck with that.

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