Like a good Neighbor

James Wynn · 21 Nov 2011, 17:35 · from 2011-November.txt.gz

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From: crushtv at gmail.com (James Wynn)
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:35:46 -0600
Subject: (urth) Like a good Neighbor
In-Reply-To: <1C635C6A20804A5C8E7E25E3F18FB60D@Rover>
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On 11/21/2011 11:17 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
> > Are you asking when Horn died, or when he saw Nettle? That is related
> > after Krait comes, so it could be after Krait comes. It could be 
> earlier
> > too.
> He saw Nettle directly after the "long-nosed man" touched something to 
> his forehead.
> If he has already died and been resurrected as a Neighbour, who is the 
> long-nosed man and what is he up to?

This fellow is our Neighbor Narrator.
I think the easiest version is to say that this is Horn's last memories 
right after he has fallen into the pit...the last seconds before his death.
There are other possible other constructions, I'm sure.

What isn't very highly mysterious is whether Horn died in that pit. 
Antonio is right, I think, why people have trouble getting there. They 
don't like the implications. They have this way of viewing the story and 
they prefer it to what is inexorably implied by Horn dying in a stupid 
mishap a few days out of New Viron. This is the same reason people have 
a problem with Pike's ghost being the Rajan. It brings up all sorts of 
unexpected and (for some, unappealing) implications about the narrative. 
As Alice K. Turner said regarding whether the Rajan Time-travels 
(paraphrasing) "There is no time travel in the Long Sun/Short Sun. It's 
not that kind of story."

Heck, Horn dies a few days after his adventure starts and (as I suspect) 
Silk is already dead as he is beginning. If one really, really liked the 
story without those elements, I can see why one would have a problem 
with exchanging it for either of these. But think of he alternate 
narrative: The main character falls in a pit, his companions look over 
him and say "That boy's dead" and leave, and then the fellow wakes and 
returns to his companions. His companions say "But...but...you were 
dead!" He responds, "No I wasn't". And so everyone just moves a long. NO 
ONE would write that story (other than say a seven-year-old). Certainly 
not Wolfe.

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