Literal or metaphor?

Lee Berman · 15 Apr 2013, 14:53 · from 2013-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:53:14 -0400
Subject: (urth) Literal or metaphor?
Message-ID: <BLU175-W44D82442F9A7438CB82EA4CFCC0 at phx.gbl>

>Gerry Quinn: >Maybe ungulate isn't quite right, though.  Horn, Hide and Hoof 
>might be thought of as epidermal by-products of large domesticated grass-eaters.
> Either way, it's natural to link them.

>Antonio Pedro Marques: Not necessarily epidermal, cf. Sinew. But that, 
>not 'bovine', is the theme in Horn's family, the remark over 'bull' 
>notwithstanding. I don't recall anyone ever not seeing it.

>David Stockhoff: Any thoughts on the significance of cattle/bison to Horn's family? 
>They weren't cattle people; bison are undomesticated.

Well, we could debate whether the connection is as broad as "ungulate", in the middle 
like Gerry's "large, domesticated grass eaters" or a narrow as "bovine". I find that
mildly interesting. But what I find more germane is that even Gerry agrees that there
is a natural connection which is apparent to pretty much everyone here.

My point on the individual nature of Wolfe's namings may be illustrated by "Sinew".
As Antonio notes, sinew/tendon is not an epidermal tissue product like horn, hoof
and hide are. Taking up Gerry's observation of alliteration, Sinew also departs from
the pattern of the other three "H" names.

I think this is likely not accidental. Sinew is Horn's "bad", ungrateful, rebellious
son while Hoof and Hide are loyal, dutiful and respecful kids. A bit stunning that 
Wolfe manages to illustrate Sinew's separation from the family with both literary
and biological symbolism of names.

>I see. It does not seem to me something worth leaving a board over. The 
>pattern doesn't seem to indicate anything in particular, story-wise.

Well, of the people still here, I think only Dan'l might have been in a position to
observe the full arc of Roy C. Lackey on this board in real time. Roy started
several years  before I did so I have to rely on the archive perusal I did before I 
started posting.

It was my observation that Roy started out like any poster here, making contributions, 
offering his theories for the interest of other Wolfe fans. But later, he seemed to 
settle more comfortably into the role of enforcer; the guy who told others why their theories
didn't hold water. I can see why such a role might become spiritually draining after a while.
I don't think the question of whether Patera Bull might be part of Horn's family was
specifically the reason for him leaving the board. I think it was more of a last
straw kind of thing.

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