Thea's Identity

Lee Berman · 22 Apr 2013, 12:28 · from 2013-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:28:33 -0400
Subject: (urth) Thea's Identity
Message-ID: <BLU175-W2318F6997DC41BE8A5549CFCB0 at phx.gbl>

> Horn is a jerk

>Antonio Pedro Marques: I'm not so sure. Morality is by definition local. 
>Horn has no qualms about telling us his unsavoury thoughts and deeds. 
>Neither has the latter narrator. We may not like all they do and wish, 
>but Horn seems a bit above the average (New) Vironese. And notice he and 
>Nettle stayed together for many years, and raised 3 children, only having 
>issues with one of them, the other two loving. It's no feat for a jerk.

This is my view of it also. Has there ever been a devoted, loving husband
and father who did not occasionally feel boredom or even resentment toward
his family? Who never got too involved in his own activities for a while? Who 
was never tempted by some young chippie? I think Wolfe pours his own heart into 
certain of his characters, perhaps most especially Weer and Horn. Perhaps the main 
point isn't that Horn is a jerk but that all men have a jerkish side to them. 
Naturally, this side will revel itself amidst the honesty demanded by a three 
novel-length story told in first person.

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